Tuesday, September 02, 2008

WESS Tech Ed Pre-Day Post 1

Here I sit in the WESS Pre Day. I feel I need to blog.

Robbie gave a good intro to what to expect from the day, found out where people were from, then asked Partners to give honest feedback to Microsoft. Hang on - isn't that what I've been doing and copping flack from inside Microsoft about? Have we ALL been doing this for many years and getting almost totally nowhere? What's changed? He mentioned nothing about what has changed inside Microsoft to allow them to action some of these things they've been hearing for years, yet he asks for honest input. How many of us need to give this before they listen?

I REALLY hope that the attendees here give their honest and open feedback - I have a feeling, from what I've been hearing, that they will be shocked to find out what we, their Partners, think of them. I know I'm going to continue giving this feedback on behalf of both Quark IT and also the SBSC members in Australia as their PAL.

Microsoft - you asked for it, so now you have no right to ask me to tone down what I'm saying. Sorry, but it is now out in the open!

Also, so far, this is APC all over - more Groundhog Day. We've been here for close to 90 minutes now and haven't gone close to anything technical. Sorry Lingan, we know what SBS and EBS are and giving us marketing information IS NOT what Tech Ed was sold to be. There, that's open and honest.

Again, I don't think they quite get it yet.

This means that I have a lot of work to do over the next 10 months and some of it isn't going to be falling on friendly ears, some of it will be harsh, and some of it will be listened to and acted upon. I honestly am doing this only so Microsoft can become a better friend to SMB, so we can work better with Microsot, so our clients can have a better Microsoft experience - basically so we can all do better, make more money, and keep our clients happy.

Why else would I spend my efforts doing this?

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

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