Carolyn April

When Ross Brown joined Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Group as vice president of solution partners and ISVs a year ago, he did what any new executive would do: He started to assess his field channel sales team. And he asked an obvious question: “Who’s our best PAM and how well are they doing?" No one could […]

Microsoft temporarily suspended its fear and loathing of all things Linux this week. The Windows juggernaut released Linux Hyper-V drivers under the GPL version 2 and submitted them for inclusion in the main Linux kernel source tree. What next? Sharepoint running natively on Linux? Let’s not go that far. But while submitting device driver code […]

No 1: Partner Program Morphs — Again Partners are going to do some serious digesting of the new program, now called the Microsoft Partner Network. Beyond the name change, the most notable difference for partners is a new membership structure that is going to require more investment in competency specialization, more proof of ongoing customer […]

Asked on Monday what it will take for partners to qualify for Advanced Competency status in the newly updated Microsoft Partner Network, Microsoft channel chief Allison Watson smiled, held her index finger up and said simply, “Excellence.” How does Microsoft define partner excellence? That’s still being assessed, Watson explained, but a few things are certain: […]

IDC released a study Tuesday forecasting positive uptick for Windows 7 in the channel, serendipitous timing if you’re a Microsoft fan with eyes on this week’s Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans. Windows 7 has been front and center among the raft of upcoming product and solutions launches that Microsoft is literally blaring from […]

Microsoft put some meat on the bones of its cloud computing initiative Tuesday, announcing a long-awaited pricing structure and a commercial release date coming in November. The Redmond, Wash., software company also sweetened the meal a bit for partners, announcing at the Worldwide Partner Conference that partners can start building on the Azure platform for […]

While not sugarcoating the dismal economic conditions sapping revenues and profits across the industry, Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer struck an upbeat tone Tuesday at the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, urging partners to seize this moment to focus on things they can control, such as gaining market share and making customer satisfaction […]

Microsoft is revamping its partner program with a new system of membership designation that officials characterize as less hierarchical and better suited for the wide diversity of partner types the company now supports, including such partner types as Web developers and designers. In her keynote opening the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans […]

Pundits love to surmise the state of technology markets: What’s up, what’s down, what’s still to come. A particular favorite is the topic of managed services. Despite its prominence in headlines for nearly five years now – and a whole predecessor market that included the failed ASP model – the state of managed services is […]

At its partner conference on Monday, Microsoft dipped into its arsenal and rolled out a combination of new tools, incentives and clarified messaging to help shed greater light on the partner opportunity around the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) of services. “I hope we can debunk some of the myths that have grown up around […]

You’ve got to hand it to Microsoft. They do get marketing. In what is turning out to be a spectacular example of spinning a negative into a positive, the software company’s missteps and ultimate failure to entice the market with Windows Vista has become a key selling point for the forthcoming Windows 7. Even Microsoft […]

Less than a week before kicking off its annual Worldwide Partner Conference along with a new fiscal year, Microsoft is shuffling the executive deck in its channel organization. Most notable of the changes involves Robert Deshaies, who will be leaving his role as vice president of U.S. Partner Business Development and Sales, according to a […]