Hi, John.

>My company is developing HR system using VFP8SP1. We would like to send our application for testing to get MS certified. What criterias should be consider?

It all depends on what Certification you want to achieve.

The Platform Test for ISV's (for Desktop, Server or SQL Server) is pretty easy, and relatively inexpensive (you have to pass two modules at USD 400 each, so it's an USD 800 investment). But this is mostly to earn point as a Microsoft Certified Partner.

The real Certifications (with a logo) are:
- Designed for Windows XP (client-side oriented, complex but not so much)
- Certified for Windows Server 2003 (server-side oriented, very complex, even more for Enterprise, almost impossible for DataCenter editions)
- Certified for SQL Server 200o (not very complex indeed)

The issue here is that any of these tests start at about USD 10,000 and they test a single version, meaning that once you release to the public another version (from 4.1 to 4.3, for example), you have to submit to test again (and pay again) to be able to keep the logo.

You may find all the information (including ~300 pages documents with specs and testing strategies) at:
www.Veritest.com (look there for Microsoft Certs)

Best luck,