OK Karl, OK Vlad
http://www.vladville.com/2007/11/the-smb-microsoft-partner-challenge-understanding-competition.html
http://smallbizthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-are-we-worth-to-microsoft.html
Here's the thing, as I see it…
Microsoft will do what it wants to do…If it gets a slap from the courts, so be it. If it gets bad press, so be it. It will keep on doing what it wants to do. I and pretty much none of its SBSC partner types are in a position to rock the boat. Hell I doubt that even if ALL SBSC partners ran from side to side in unison, I doubt Microsoft would really, truly notice.
So what can I do, run to open-source, run to Novell, IBM, Sun, Google, Apple? I don't think so. People LOVE Microsoft products. It's not fashionable to say so, it's not as hip as an iMac or as universally omnipotent as Google. They won't admit it in open conversation, but they need Office, they need HP and Dell to provide cheap hardware for them to check email and check their banks and whatever else it is they do at 1:30am in the dark, alone, online…
I am reminded of the Bugs Bunny cartoon, where Daffy is caught by the Abominable Snow Bunny who decides to take in a pet…That is how Microsoft sees us. All we have to do is mind our business, do our thing, and PROMOTE THE HELL out of Microsoft and we'll be fine. I gotta say though, it ain't that hard. The hardest part for us is to choke down how much it will cost our clients for this stuff. It's expensive, but businesses will either buy it or they won't. I tend to feel that they know that if it will help their business become more productive and/or more profitable, they want to pay for it and make it work in their environment.
So on the HALO Scale we ain't much, and on the whole of it the SBSC partners still ain't much, and considering that Ballmer (sp?) sees Microsoft in the advertising game sooner rather than later, business still needs what? Software, Microsoft software, and they are gonna get it from somewhere or someone, might as well be me. I am not going to stop doing what I am doing. I may refine it, but I am not technology specific consultant, I am a solutions provider. Business needs a business solution that technology can help solve, I'll offer that solution. Right now most of those solutions for my small business clients come from Microsoft, so big deal. If and when that changes, I too will change, but right now, nothing has changed, it's still the same game. You wanna talk to micro businesses about putting in Home Servers and Media Center PCs? You do that; hey I'll call you when I get that lead.