In the current climate what better way to save money to make money than to employ open source free software as your creative tools.

Your alternative are as follows

For web design > NVU, a simple straightforward WYSIWYG editor for you web needs.

For animation > Synfig, 2D time-line animation creation tool.

For vector graphics creation > Inkscape, a vector graphics application similar to Illustrator and CorelDraw.

For page layout > Scribus, open source professional page layout design application.

For multimedia design > Libavg, create media rich interactive presentations akin to Director.

For video editing > Avidmux, video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding supporting many file types.

For adding video effects > Jahshaka, edit and add visual effects like After Effects.

With the likely event these will prove useful to other folks out there like myself, I'd like to share some findings from searching around the internet on IT Certification.

Technical Information

TechNet - Direct from Microsoft archives.

Windows Security - Security articles and forums on Windows Security.

Windows Networking - Networking articles and technical information relating to Windows.

MCP Magazine - Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine, articles by IT Professionals.

Redmond Magazine - An It Professional lead magazine.

Training Information and Certification Resources

Global Knowledge - Certification and training information.

ProProfs - IT Certification preparation resources.

CramSession - Study guides and certification exams.

PrepLogic - Practice certification exams.

A Mac user doing Microsoft qualifications you say? Well, yes and aiming high for a new career - bout time I started this blog up again.

So, if you hadn't guessed, I've been gaining myself some further professional education and it's something new to get my teeth sunk into. In an attempt to aid me (which it did) I invested in a high end box of chips and electronics with Windows Vista on it - I find that with all the hoo har going on about it being no good "XP was better" and "it's just copied from Leopard" well I just like it, maybe because of the new learning maybe because of it being something new.

I has opened up my interest in Freeware and Open Source again on the Windows side of the coin, which to be honest I am quite impressed with the quality of - considering I was totally bowled over with the quality and depth of Mac Freeware and branded Windows alternatives as poor in comparison.

Above all of the system maintenance freeware that i put on here (Vista machine) the one that most impressed me (and this may seem daft) is Launchy for the one sole reason of what it is and does, which is act like Quicksiler on my Mac.