SBS 2008 Muddies the Waters of Hosted Services

Microsoft is finally talking about Small Business Server 2008, but not every VAR is going to like what is being said. Sure, the proposed feature set sounds great, but there is one element that may cause concern, and that is...

A Dangerous Move for Microsoft?

Microsoft has purchased Danger for a half-billion dollars!

Top Five Technologies for the Microsoft Channel

If you are a Microsoft ISV, VAR, or SI partner, you need to be thinking about gaining expertise in the following five technologies. At their annual partner conference in Denver this week, it was clear to me that partners need...

CompUSA Fallout: Stand by Your SMB Man, Microsoft

A Microsoft SMB executive claims the company is standing by its SMB plan to make CompUSA a spear point in driving SMB demand. The pair announced on March 12 yet another exclusive deal to link CompUSA SMB sales to Microsoft's...

MSPs Think Microsoft's SCE Could Best All Managed Services Platforms

Microsoft isn't talking yet about how it plans to market System Center Essentials 2007 to managed service providers and won't even acknowledge that it will, but some already working with Microsoft Operations Manager and SCE betas say it could best all other MSP platforms and own the vendor market.

4,200 Partner Downloads of Vista Assessment Tools

2,600 partners have downloaded 4,200 copies of Microsoft's Business & Technology Assessment Toolkit since it debuted four weeks ago, Microsoft boasts.

Partners have downloaded 20,000 copies of the old and new versions since August and are increasing deal sizes according to statements made by partners on the software maker's site...

Rose-Colored Windows

Microsoft has been releasing Economic Impact studies on the effects of Vista in various metros and regions, but the vista appears too rosy. The eight reports, commissioned by Redmond and performed by IDC, divine a significant surge in IT employment and revenue to local IT firms during the first year of an operating system that many VARs, IT pros and MSPs say they have no intention of touching for six months to a year ...

'Where's the Wow?' It's on ABC

The mass-market advertising for Windows Vista is here and it's impressive, according to Microsoft Watch's Joe Wilcox. Wilcox called the campaign, which he caught during an episode of ABC television's "Lost," "approachable and familiar," like Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" The...

Microsoft Fogs up the Window

Microsoft hosted a live Web meeting Feb. 7 to clear up the vista on its retail strategy to reach small and midsize businesses and how it relates to SMB VARs, but the end result was a smudgy view. Eric Ligman,...

Spring Ahead Advice From Vendors

Microsoft, IBM and others are advising partners on how to manage the earlier daylight savings adjustment that threatens to throw off calendar software March 11. In case you hadn't heard "Spring Ahead" comes three weeks early this year (second Sunday...