According to this page on the Microsoft site, the Visual Studio 6 exams will no longer be offerered after June 30, 2004. I interpret the cryptic note “no candidate requirements to retain certification” to mean that current certifcation holders do not have to take exams. A few years ago, Microsoft was glad to terminate certifications left and right. I took core and elective exams three times to retain my MCSD certification. Now, I think they are facing dwindling numbers and will do what they can to artificially bolster those figures.
I thought the MCSD (“Solution Developer”) idea was a good one, but I don’t believe that Microsoft was ever able to estalish sufficient credibility and desirability for earning the certificate.
Disclaimer: I was a significant contributor to the VFP 6.0 Distributed Solutions examination.