It is 3am here in Australia and I just finished up watching what I believe to be one of the if not the largest industry shaping event for IT. The launch of VMware's vSphere.

I will keep it short with a number of notable  quotes from Paul Maritz and transcribe my thoughts and detail when it is a sane hour.

"It's not about individual machines but how groups of machines relate together"
"Take multiple machines and get them to co-operate together"

"Control, Efficiency and Management that is effectively a single giant computer"
"Hide the complexity"

"It speaks to a hunger, people want their datacentres to be something better"
"Sever the tentacles of complexity without going back to square one and starting again"

"New age clouds are the ultimate california motels, you can check in but never check out of them"

"VMware can provide the bridge that is needed, virtualisation is the key technology to make it happen"
"Wrap up the complexity into a black box, slide underneath the box"

"Installing software to people and not devices, the system should take care of the plumbing"

For the second part of my VCP on vSphere, I have an excellent opportunity for all VMware User Group Members.

I received notification today that for VMUG Members who wish to sit a VMware course, they can receive a 25 percent discount.
This is perfect for VCP's on VI2 who did not get around to upgrading to VI3, as doing so will allow the opportunity to upgrade to VI4 with other VCP's and retain the VCP status history through all product sets.
Also fantastic news for those who want to have the VI3 cert on their resume even though they will pursue the vSphere cert.

The fine print is :

 Dear VMUG Member,

As a member of the VMUG Program we would like to extend a special limited time offer to enhance your knowledge about VMware’s virtualization and save money in the process.
Between now and June 1st, we would like to extend a limited time offer to the first 250 VMUG members that respond to the following offer:

Sign up for one of our virtualization classes or certification exam for a significant discount.
Any class where Seats Remain you can register using code VMUGLoyalty resulting in a 25% discount.

Once you take a VCP qualifying classes, you may register using the code VMUGQ19 and it will result in a 25% discount. Members must register and sit the exam by June 1st, 2009.
We appreciate your continued support of VMware technologies and hope you have a rewarding and successful learning experience.

Please note that this offer is only available through VMware and can not be used in conjunction with any other discounts.

Regards,
The VMUG Team

It appears that the complete VCP path is out of the bag as well now, and has been published on the internet.
So to figure out which course you need to take to get where you are going then check it out here.