I feel compelled to admit that I left one thing out:

This move does not make Microsoft the devil, they happen to be the victim in the current arrangement. Yes, even with 30 billion a quarter, their future looks grim. Their online services division loses a billion a year and they have made far too many enemies in every segment and every industry and each day makes them look worse while Google and Apple can seem to do no wrong. Microsoft is given 0 benefit of the doubt, while Leopard has worse troubles than Vista ever had, iPhone is more closed than anything Microsoft ever put together and guess who is the saint and who is the devil in that equation.

People are speculating that Microsoft needs to buy Yahoo to stay relevant in the Web 2.0 race. They are investing in Facebook. They are trying to do everything they can to remain on top and keep their investors sitting on their hands. If you invested in Google a year ago, your money would have doubled. If you did the same for Apple, your money would have tripled. Microsoft, you’d be lucky to cover the trade comission.

Microsoft has no friends. It has no loyal friends either – Dell is selling Linux and Solaris, Intel is powering their main competitors…. and in turn, as an organization it must do what it has to in order to grow, prosper and keep people from pulling their money out of Nasdaq: MSFT.

In the grand scheme of things, Microsoft just got a huge friend in Comcast and hedged its bets against its competitors in Google.

It’s a great day for Microsoft.

Sucks if you’re their partner that just saw the Software+Services replace your competitive advantage.

-Vlad

Uhhhh, the customer is still my daddy. It’s uncle Bill sleeping over that has me worried.

Mark,

This is the time to explain to the customer not to talk to strangers or Uncle Bill is moving into the living room and Nephew Comcast is changing the locks and putting up the sign “No Mark allowed” on the lawn.

-Vlad

[...] hope you took a moment to read why this is happening. Read Karl’s excellent overview of “What are we worth to Microsoft” to get an [...]

[...] So is it the end of the world for you an I?  Definitely not,  but the folks that I think might have more cause for concern are the SaaS providers that rely on us to resell their products.  They don’t have bandwidth, VoIP, HBO and Showtime as their cash cows.  My company makes money primarily off of services including integration, management and consulting whereas the SaaS providers I resell make their money off of the very services Comcast is now giving away in with 2 year ISP contract.   Hmmm… Now what Vlad? [...]

[...] are going out of their way to make it look and feel like we don;t know what we are doing, could Vlad be on to something here? I sure hope the shy is not really falling, now where is that steel [...]

[...] Vlad pointed out that big business likes doing business with big business.  While this is true, the consequences of their inattention to the subsequent ramifications of their decisions is usually obscured by the dollar signs in their sparkly eyes as the ink the deals.  Technology services like the ones MS has chosen  to deliver through Comcast are mission critical services and should NOT be delivered by company not capable of delivering it responsibly.  The really frustrating part is that MICROSOFT ALREADY KNOWS THIS!   Microsoft has been a partner driven company since it’s inception because they know who the customers trusts.  Why now do they choose to blur the lines with these types of partnerships?  Are they getting business advice from Michael Dell himself? [...]

[...] Microsoft TPAM resources available to Microsoft Partners as well as the recent Microsoft/Comcast announcement including: what you need to know, how you engage with them, where to go if you have questions, what [...]

[...] While Michael shared about Microsoft’s vision and marketing strategy we all appreciated how candid he was about some of their short comings both with the partners and with their marketing efforts in targeted areas.  At first the Dynamics Partners got into conversations that showed off Michael’s MBA from Harvard and left my little old ME minds spinning.  Things like “mapping the capacity relative to the opportunity” or something like that.     Then came the good part as we discussed SaaS and where MS sees the market trend, our role and their role.  I won’t recount the entire conversation but I’ll share the part that I know is of the most interest to my 7 readers.  The part where Microsoft signs Comcast as a SPLA partner thus allowing them to deliver hosted Exchange for free to SMB customers.  [...]