Five Observations From Microsoft's Partner Conference

A palpable sense of excitement marked this year's WPC, and that's not just because Microsoft held it in the scintillating city of New Orleans. With a huge wave of new product releases and updates looming, Microsoft solution providers literally had to sprint from session to session just to keep up with it all. Here we offer five lasting memories from the event.

1. Microsoft Execs Are Happy About Google's Chrome OS

Microsoft executives at WPC described Google's Chrome OS as "interesting," but they have to be privately delighted that Google has begun announcing new products far in advance of their actual release.

By doing so, Google appears to be taking a page from the old Microsoft playbook, but as seen with Windows 7, Microsoft is now being much more careful with how it communicates product development milestones. Given the largely positive response to Windows 7, it's an approach that works better than chumming the waters with fear, uncertainty and doubt.

2. Microsoft Can Now Laugh About Vista

A lot can change in a year: At last year's WPC, the conference hall was festooned with Windows Vista posters and Microsoft executives vowed to defend its honor from those who would ridicule it. But this year, no one mentioned Vista other than to hold it up as an example of the hard lessons Microsoft learned from it.

Microsoft COO Kevin Turner acknowledged the impact of Vista's struggles to partners in a keynote speech. WPC attendees seemed relieved to be putting Vista in the rearview mirror.

3. Partners Are Warming To Microsoft Online Services (BPOS)

Many partners were unimpressed by the commission structure Microsoft unveiled last year for its Business Productivity Online Services suite, and Microsoft's insistence on controlling key aspects of the billing relationship remain a stumbling block for some. But this year, there was a sense that BPOS is starting to gain broader recognition in the market.

"We looked at BPOS a year ago and were somewhat concerned that we'd be giving business away to Microsoft, but now customers are asking for it because they're hearing about it elsewhere," said Rand Morimoto, president of Convergent Computing, an Oakland, Calif.-based solution provider.

4. Bing Makes Its Presence Felt

The Bing logo was everywhere at WPC, adorning banners and T-shirts, and even starring in its own "song" sung by attendees. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer held up Bing as an example of Microsoft's tenacity and its commitment to keep plugging away until it reaches its goals. Microsoft is extremely proud of Bing, and while search engines don't have much direct relevance to channel business models, partners seemed to appreciate the doting.

5. Microsoft Wants More

A decade ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a story with the headline "Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeros." It's an apt metaphor for Microsoft's hunger for more market share in areas where it doesn't have a dominant position.

In an unusually feisty WPC keynote, COO Kevin Turner urged partners to "Eradicate Lotus Notes" and to seed doubt in the minds of Google Apps users by showing customers documentation of the outages and security problems it has had. Turner also pulled no punches when talking about Linux on the server, noting that Microsoft has "competed with the fraudulent perception of free really, really well."

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