Current Status of Linux certification Programs

I've seen a number of articles written over the past couple of years regarding the different Linux certification Programs which are avaialable. Unfortunately some of the programs haven't kept themselves current giving other programs an opportunity to gain more of a market share. From what I've read & seen Linux Ceritifation isn't as high of a priority as in Europe where Linux has a larger base of users.

The four articles can be found here 1, 2, 3, & 4. I listed them in chronological order from most recent to oldest.

Some of the upgrades which have been talked about haven't come about such as the LPIC3 and the SAIR certifications are basically dead in the water. I haven't heard much about the Linux+ certifications, but that might be more because I bypassed the Linux+ test and started looking at the SAIR & LPI tests. From what I've seen the LPI series of tests are a good starting point for Linux certification. From there everything should depend on what your specific Job entails and where you look to be moving towards in the future.