Twenty-six hundred 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 they are increasing deal sizes according to statements made by partners on the software maker’s site. “We insisted on…

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 (one on Illinois was announced Feb. 12, but unavailable as of publication), commissioned by Redmond and performed by IDC, divine a significant surge in IT employment and revenue to…

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 fact that the campaign is quality is something VARs can use to their advantage, even…

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, senior manager of community engagement on Redmond’s U.S. Small Business Team, clearly spelled out Microsoft’s…