CPE credits for A+  That`s funny. What someone should do in order to obtain them? A subscription to PC Magazine?

I hope everyone is happy.  A) The certs still expire B) There are still CPE requirements C) Now we have to pay a maintenance fee.

They couldn't just leave well enough alone.  Well, I'm off to say I told you so to another forum.

I agree that CPEs are needed to keep cert relevant; however, A+ and Network+ are entry-level certs.  Do you really need to keep entry-level certs relevant?  If you're still only entry-level 10 years later, it would show by your lack of 10 years of experience.
Now for Cisco Certs and CISSP, etc.  Life-time certs for these makes no sense.

Depends, I've worked with people, all they want to do is the entry level stuff. They're happy doing help desk (which includes building the PCs and such) and don't want to do more. They actually push back when trying to get them to do more.

Then there are the people that work at the small mom and pop (I know their fading but I have a few around me that have lasted) computer shops doing custom builds and repair. One guy has been at one since I started going to it in the 90s.

It's not so much a lack of 10 years experience, they could have been doing it for 10 years. They could be really good at it. However keeping up with hardware is a full time job in itself now days.

I do have to agree with Data_Raid, I'd probably let the cert laps (like I did my CCNA) because of the fee.

That is their plan, but it doesn't start until Jan. 1 2011.

I thought about getting S+ sooner or later, but I'm not sure if it should prior or after Jan. 1 2011. If I haven't missed something, before 2011 should be better - is that correct? Are there any benefits when doing it after?

Yeah, I thought that too, but wasn't sure if I didn't miss anything. Another point to add on my todo-list for this year.

Thanks Bill.