Yes, and yes.

Seriously, though. Certifications, whether we try to discount them, do give some level of credibility or people wouldn't pursue them. Whether it's an HR person looking at our resumes or a manager who pauses because you've got a cert that says you know databases, it does help, even if in a subconcious way. I know I qualify for certain government jobs just because I have a GSEC, a cert many people haven't heard of. Did I get the cert to qualify for certain government security jobs? No but it's nice that I have that as a side benefit.

Also, whenever you seriously undertake certification, you are forcing yourself to take a harder look at a discipline and your knowledge of that discipline. That's a great time to learn something new, to fill in gaps, and to correct mistakes in the knowledge. And while some of the material may seem obsolete, it isn't. There are still a lot of tried and true principles you learn getting an NT 4.0 MCSE that apply to managing Windows Server 2003 boxes today. Yes, a lot has changed (AD, firewalls, automatic updates, new built in accounts, etc., etc., etc.), but a lot has stayed the same (the way shares and NTFS permissions work, what to look for in the event log, had to configure networking using the GUI, etc.).

So while Microsoft surely is making something off all of these certifications, we get some benefits, some very tangible, out of the whole thing, too.