Microsoft Slices ISV Royalties For Much Of its Portfolio

Until now, ISVs wanting to embed most Microsoft software had to pay out at least $50,000 to Microsoft over a two-year period. That figure has been cut to $10,000.

There are two rather large exceptions, however. Windows Server and client software and Office are not covered, said Mark Young, general manager of ISV strategy for the Microsoft Platform Strategy and Partner Group. But the bulk of Windows Server Systems and Information Worker offerings fall under this new policy, Young said. That lineup includes Content Management Server, Commerce Server, BizTalk Server, ISA Server, Visio, Project, and other products.

Over time, Microsoft will also add Microsoft CRM and Axapta to the royalty program. It chose Axapta to try out how the company's ERP products will fit in the program.

Microsoft has hosted worldwide road trips and is offering up other new benefits to attract ISVs to its Windows Server, client and more recently its Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) platform.

Also introduced at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, was the company's new "Buddy" system designed to match ISV partners up with relevant "buddies" inside the Microsoft firewall.

So far 900 Microsoft employees, including Young himself, senior vice president Eric Rudder and CEO Steve Ballmer have signed on, he said. The company expects from 2,000 to 3,000 ISV partners to request buddies.

Microsoft also said it was making its Watson error reporting tool available to ISVs to help with error-reporting and diagnostics in their own applications. Also on tap is an extension to MSDN customized for ISVs developing on Microsoft's software foundations.

Of course, Microsoft fields so many applications of its own, that many ISVs view the platform group as an ally, but the rest of the software behemoth as a deadly rival. That poses an interesting challenge for Young and his colleagues. They are quick to argue that IBM and Oracle have their own ISV conflicts.

It also outlined its Channel Builder tool, designed to help relevant channel partners find each other and collaborate on complete solutions for customers.

It is this with this whole partner-partnering-with-partner ecosystem that Microsoft hopes to combat the services organizations fielded by software competitors, especially IBM's IBM Global Services.

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