I do not want this to sound like I am pointing fingers.  You had asked many questions of why an HP end user would need to be certified or what would it mean to a company if a person should have HP certification.

You asked what kind of certification procedures would an HP end users wish to have.  what type of certification do "actual" CE's have that work for HP? Why do they need certification for? how do they go about getting "certified" to an HP CE? Is there "experience/certification" simply based on a college degree? why would it be difficult to allow HP end users to go through some similar type of training/certification?  We, as HP end-users would like to at least have the same type of "training/certificaion" as the CE's.

HP is really lagging in the training/support area because of the growing demand for HP products.  I compliment HP in doing so well in the computer market today.  I think have "trained/certified" HP end users would greatly benefit HP as far as technical support.  Some type of listing can be distributed in the HP world of end users whom have this certification to help possibly help out the technical support.  Yes, it is nice to hire nice fresh college grads out of college, but, how does that compare to the many HP users customer base who have 7-10 years experience?

I also understand that HP is allowing end users to purchase parts for certain desk jet products.  I also have noticed that HP is starting to drop older eqiupment off contracts for support.  That is understandable due to the growing demand for better products.  But, alot of these older products many of us still use and maintain out in the HP world.  So, in a way, we are forced to UPGRADE our equipment because the older equipment is being dropped from support from HP and have to use 3rd party repair services who do not hardly have "any training/certification" as well.  So, we are "forced" to upgrade to new equipment. Then, we have to sit and wait for it to be delivered because HP cannot keep up with the deamnd of the product.  Then, HP is such in a rush to get the products out that it can cause problems of some of the "first" models of the product.  With this in mind, if some HP end users can get trained/certified in hardware, we can purchase our own products and repair our own equipment.

Please take my comments into consideration.

-Chris-