I have said time and again that certifications are a path to follow, not a destination to arrive at. I remember when I passed my first exam how excited I was to achieve my first cert... not knowing where that one would lead to.
Though I cannot speak authoritatively on .NET certifications I can certainly do so on the IT Pro side of things, and can tell you that Microsoft is working hard to make the new generations of certifications relevent to both us as professionals and to companies and hiring managers looking to hire us.
The new certifications are going to be task-specific in the case of the MCTS certs, and job-specific for MCITP certs. So:
- Someone who holds the MCTS - Microsoft Windows Vista: Configuration will be certified in that specifically... It is a task that will be part of a job but will not be the job; and
- Someone who holds the MCITP - Microsoft Desktop Support - ENTERPRISE will be certified in that job role.
Notice that in the MCTS cert title there is a product name and version; this means that the cert expires when that product is retired by Microsoft. In the MCITP there is no product name, but that job role certification will need to be renewed every three years.
I hope this clarifies a few things for you!