The large margin of victory came as no surprise to Microsoft channel partners. "For a company Microsoft's size and with its level of market dominance, they're really friendly to partners of all shapes and sizes," said Todd Swank, vice president of marketing at Nor-Tech, a Burnsville, Minn.-based system builder and Microsoft partner.

Microsoft's channel reps are constantly reaching out to partners to get feedback and figure out how to create programs to sell products, which is going to be key to surviving in challenging times, Swank added.

"Microsoft has a huge array training and channel program offerings for resellers of all sizes," said Swank. "If you want to sell technology, you can find a program with Microsoft to get trained and build your business, plain and simple."