CBT Review

Are you sick of spending your hard earned money on Computer Based Training that is simply not up to scratch? We are too, so we created this site to save both your time and your money so you can be sure that any CBT products you buy are worth the effort.

First to the market with Windows Vista videos as far as I am aware is CBT Nuggets with their Windows Vista First Looks product.

Being first to market at least allows other CBT Companies to know what they are up against, so if this product is a winner it raises the benchmark immediately for other players in the training game.

So did CBT Nuggets succeed here? Well, yes and no.

The product itself is fine for a first look at Vista and in the defense of CBT Nuggets, they don't claim that this is a series of comprehensive training videos on Windows Vista. Its designed to be a pre-release introduction of what Windows Vista is all about, and they demonstrate their videos using the Beta and RC versions of Vista.

Since Vista is out now its probably worth waiting to see what else CBT Nuggets comes up with as this is a series that is rather simplistic for most Windows XP users wanting to step up into Vista.

The video quality of this series is very poor and not up to the usual standards you'd expect from a company that does produce some quite good video training products. The trainer appears to be running Vista in a virtual machine with 8 bit color, which makes the product look awful. So if you expect to see the new Aero interface in all its glory - forget it. He also turns off some features on the Sidebar (but does explain why he is doing it), to make the videos smaller. Quite frankly I'd prefer a larger download size and the videos looking better (note to CBT Nuggets: your target market probably has broadband).

Overall not a great product from CBT Nuggets, but a reasonable introduction to what you can expect to see in the final release of Windows Vista.

Pros:
First to market with Vista Training.
Price.

Cons:
Material is quite shallow, but don't forget, this is a "First Look" at the product.
Video quality is very poor.

Company: CBT Nuggets
Product Link: Windows Vista First Look
Price: $29

Our Rating: 4/10

Seeing as there isnt a lot of SMS 2003 material available today, so when I heard that Netwind had released a Computer Based Training product on SMS 2003, I was quite looking forward to reviewing it.

So I jumped onto their website and went to sign up. Now with this product there were 2 versions to choose from. An online version and a CD-Rom based edition. Both are identical, but since I am an impatient type, I opted for the cheaper, online edition.

The online version is listed at $299 US whereas the CD-Rom version is $349, so not only would I be getting it immediately, I'd also save $50.

So I go the motions to sign up but the price tag tells me that I will be paying $349. Strange. So I send an email off to Netwind's support email address listed at the bottom of the page. As my misfortune would have it, the email bounces back to me. Not a good start, but still, I'll have another go. Carefully checking the email address, I send it off again. Same result, a second bounced email and I am no closer than I was earlier. As luck would have it, there was an alternative email address available, so I send off my query as to why the $50 discount wasn't being applied to the online version.

Thankfully, the Netwind response was quick and I was told that the discount would be refunded to me after I had signed up. Now lets stop right here for a moment. If Netwind are listening, now would be a good chance to fix this mess up. I don't think that many people would be as persistent as me, and if that is the sort of mess people have to go through to sign up, I cant imagine there being many happy customers. But to Netwind's credit, I will say that their support was quick and pleasant - I just think these problems should be avoided before the customer sees them. Informing the customer that the discount will be refunded might be a good idea too.

So I sign up anyway, expecting to see my course I just paid for. Sadly no, it wasnt to be. They had my money, but I didn't have my course. So I sent them another email asking what the problem was. I was asked to refresh my browser as the course should be there. Obviously I am a little beyond trivial problems like that so I emailed them back telling them that my course doesn't appear, its blank, please fix it.

Again, to their supports credit, they fixed the problem, I can now login and see the course that I paid for. Hopefully all of this trouble and effort in getting the course was all worth it. Sadly it wasn't.

The product itself is the older style CBT, not the full blown video tutorials we have come to expect nowadays. If you've been around long enough to use the old SmartForce CBT training, you'll understand what I mean.

The material in this training product wasn't the best, definitely more of an overview than in depth training.

You may have more luck than we did, but based on our experiences with this product, we simply cannot recommend it, there are much better alternatives out there.

Pros:
Support Service was quick.

Cons:
Buying the Product was tedious (hopefully will be fixed by the time you read this).
Material was not technical enough.
Old style CBT.
Price.

Company: Netwind
Product Link: SMS 2003
Price: $299 Online, $349 CD-Rom

Our Rating: 3/10

Seriously, I find learning a new programming or scripting language incredibly boring - and I know I'm not alone.

Lets face it, unless you are a gifted geek that sees code in your head, like Hugh Jackman claims to in the movie Swordfish, its a real chore to learn programming skills. Whether its a heavy duty language like C, or a milder and more useful (at least as far as daily administration goes) scripting language, they all are boring to learn - that is, unless you can grasp the concepts quickly and see some immediate results.

The new Series of Shell Scripting Videos from Winstructor aims to teach you how to write batch files, or shell scripts, or whatever you'd like to call them.

The series starts with a basic introduction video that assumes you have never scripted before, which is a welcome change from most companies that lose you from step 1, then its all downhill from there. The series then gradually steps you through more advanced features of writing batch files, until you can string these together on your own. The trainers style of teaching is very good and I found myself easily keeping up with what was being taught.

In around 2 hours I learned more about batch files than I have in about 10 years of being in the IT Industry. Quite frankly, I think they justify a higher price than what Winstructor is charging, but hey, I'm not complaining.

I tell you though, if scripting languages were demonstrated in a way which is THIS EASY to learn, more often, we'd all be guru's. So, if you are in need to learn about how to write Shell Scripts and Batch Files, then these videos are Highly Recommended. Even if you don't think you need to learn how to write batch files, I'd still suggest checking them out, because at the price, you simply can't go wrong.

Pros:
Price.
Good Solid Instruction will have you up to speed writing scripts quickly.

Cons:
Would like to see an advanced scripting series.

Company: Winstructor
Product Link: Shell Scripting Training Videos
Price: $39.95

Our Rating: 8/10