[lpi-discuss] the cost of certification

[Evan Leibovitch]

christiaan wrote:

> Thank you for the links. For your  information Mark Miller had 
> previously advised that the Ubuntu Live Training CD needed help and I 
> contacted Jeff Waugh and will be helping out. 

OK, that makes _six_ projects.

> Nonetheless if the BSD certification people recognise a lack of 
> quality training materials and adjust their business model to 
> compliment the LPI business model.

I've been on the BSD list as you have. They have a long way to go before 
getting anywhere near the LPI business model, if that is indeed where 
they're headed. While the BSD certification effort has some excellent 
people and plenty of drive, it has nearly all of LPI's challenges ahead 
of it and quite a few challenges that LPI didn't.

> The LPI stands to have serious competition.

Given the diverse nature of Linux I guess this is inevitable. However, I 
see certification as a standard (as opposed to a conventional product or 
service) and it is always problematic in the marketplace to have 
competing standards (as opposed to a single standard with multiple 
implementations). Look right now in the DVD-format field to see another 
example. How many people stay away from Linux certification altogether 
because they see a crowded field and don't know which one employers will 
specify?

Having said that, I don't see the BSD cert program competing with LPI 
any more than the BSD systems themselves are seen to compete with Linux 
systems.

> These are interesting times in Open Source certification.

There have never _not_ been interesting times in this field.

- Evan