Yes, we're doing another one, this time on everything from working with Microsoft
to SaaS strategies to competitive threats. Want to know what your colleagues
are thinking? They're curious about what you think, too. Be a part of it all
here
.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/31/20070 comments
Microsoft revealed last week the lighter side of its Jekyll-and-Hyde approach
to open source software, unveiling a
glowing
new Web site
designed to attract the open source community (as if open source
types don't see the mousetrap underneath that hunk of cheese).
Microsoft has also submitted its shared-source software licenses
for
approval from the Open Source Initiative
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/31/20070 comments
For those of you wondering just what Microsoft's software as a service -- or
even Software Plus Services -- strategy might involve, Ray Ozzie
spelled
things out
in fairly good detail last week.
This is one of those times when we'd like for you to take a look at what Ozzie
said (yes, that means clicking
the link) and tell us how you, as a partner, think you can fit into this
strategy. We're reading over this carefully ourselves, but we're going to hold
off on any commentary until we hear from you. So step up and let us know how
SaaS-y you plan to get with Redmond in the months and years to come.
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/31/20070 comments
So Microsoft will, after all, launch a beta program for its new Web analytics
tool,
code-named
"Gatineau."
Now, we're sure that there must be a mistake in here somewhere. Surely Microsoft
wouldn't use some town in Quebec as a code name. Oh, no. We suspect that Redmond
meant to call its forthcoming heavy hitter "Gastineau," after
Mark
Gastineau
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/26/20070 comments
Remember the good ol' days of November 2006? When Microsoft blasted Vista out
the door to eager enterprise customers, and partners awaited the windfall that
the new operating system was sure to bring? Well, just like Chicago Cubs fans
wondering when their loyalty will pay off with a World Series title after nearly
a century of frustration, partners are waiting for Vista to start making the
cash registers ring. It isn't happening yet.
In fairness, partners probably have a better shot at profiting from Vista than
the Cubs have had of winning a World Series over the last century or so. Just
this week, more news came out about how Vista is making strides, eating up market
share from competitors and making
slow but steady progress on its beloved in-house rival, XP.
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/26/20072 comments
Last summer, it
burst
onto the scene like a villain
from a summer blockbuster movie, making enemies
wherever it went and generally wreaking havoc in the channel and in corporate
IT departments.
But now, Windows Genuine Advantage has
gone
from zero to hero
, helping bust (according to Microsoft) the Chinese piracy
ring that Microsoft and the FBI just nabbed.
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/26/20070 comments
So, who came out the big winner in the first of Microsoft's Linux patent deals?
If we're to believe a recent study, it was
le
Chapeau Rouge
, monsieur!
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/26/20070 comments
We've said many times here at RCPU that Microsoft, in general, is very good
to its partners, and we still believe that it is true. The only problem, as
most partners probably know by now, is that sometimes the Microsoft Partner
Program can offer -- as the old saying goes -- too much of a good thing. And
sometimes that good thing -- maybe the one good thing a partner really needs
-- is a bit hard to find.
Roll in the Microsoft Partner Program "benefits wheel." Oh, it's
officially called the Partner Benefits Framework in classic stodgy Microsoft
fashion, but the round shape of the diagram used to clarify how partners can
access the benefits they need just lends itself to the "wheel" moniker.
Besides, we can envision thousands of clever little "wheel" quips
spinning out of this. Well, hundreds, anyway. Or maybe tens.
More
Posted by Lee Pender on 07/25/20070 comments