Gah. I heard about this whole mess yesterday in the water cooler thread. It's a shame. From what I've seen of Gail and a few other MCM holders, they're amazing people; they know the product in and out, and they know the details down to the finest grains. The MCM certification, in my thoughts, served as absolute proof that its holder was one of the strongest users of SQL Server, and having the ability to survive the exam to get the certificate was an accomplishment in itself.

Now that the certification is going away, well... The next-highest level of certification certainly doesn't possess that same level of significance. Personally, I was considering trying for MCM myself, perhaps a good few years down the line (definitely not a chance right now!). With the certification being gone, and having seen the "quality" of some of the lower certification bearers, I'm not sure I have the motivation to attempt getting certified anymore. It's quite a sad situation, and the means by which it was just dumped on the entire community without caring for the reprecussions is mildly disgusting.