This thread is very disturbing. Some of you make me ashamed to be a part of the program and to think of you as my peers. How do you make it through your daily life with this much paranoia and lack of business sense?

Please just stop talking and think for a minute.

Everyone beating Vlad up needs to read this post that he wrote a year ago:

Microsoft’s Software Without Service, The end of SBSC and Why you should never partner with Microsoft if you wish to run a profitable business.

August 9th, 2007.

So if you are wondering why Vlad isn’t advising SBSC you can read about it at the post above. While the rest are championing Microsoft partnerships and telling us that we don’t know what we’re talking about when we complain.

I am still angry that Vlad wants to apologize to Microsoft.

This is where I am not able to make a connection when you say Microsoft is:

“TOTALLY committed to SBSC”

They cannot be totally committed to the small business specialists if they are building and advertising tools to make small business specialists useless. They go one step further to make sure by taking the account and doing all the billing and contact with the client so they can upsell them. Stories have come up over the years where Microsoft clients were solicited directly so if Microsoft has the account what is to stop them from taking my client and moving them to another partner?

I am glad I am not the only one that sees this as total betrayal by Microsoft. How can I be a trusted advisor if I am not doing any work for the client? Trust is earned. Microsoft will advertise that they earn that trust and we will again be reduced to just break-fix support from the SBSC locator.

Everyone pro-Microsoft is reacting to this emotionally and refusing to look at this rationally as a change in Microsoft business model that kills off the SBSC. Their “partners” will be Dell, HP, Toshiba and their service partners will be Best Buy, Costco, Unisys, Circuit city and the SBSC is just a small band of people that were used to build Microsoft trust in the SMB space and then farm it off to bigger and more profitable clients more closely tied to the Microsoft agenda of not letting in any third party software on their platform.

Can someone please address that instead of whining about how stupid and blind we are not to see all that you supposedly did on your paid trip to Houston? We don’t know what we are talking about? Then exactly what do you have to show for your trips and work with Microsoft? All I see is a death of SBSC and at least Vlad wrote about it long enough ahead of time let him have some good credit in this whole thing. Something with Dave Overton the link evades me.

As one of the UK SBSC PALs you better believe I’m telling Microsoft to work with its most proactive Partners because I’ve tried to engage many people and they’ve never wanted to know and not just because of the S+S stuff. There is an answer if you want the limelight and free conference step forward – that’s what we all did!

Yes, I got my conference/accomodation paid for but I paid my own flights. I’m not going to apologise for it because I’ve put the effort in running SBS Groups, helping Partners get case studies published, passing on opportunities, running Sharepoint events to name only a few! I’m in business and so is Microsoft, it’s not a charity that will carry people who can’t walk on their own. I will absolutely look to get exposure for myself and business, but I work in Partnership with many people.

People like Andrea Russell and others at Microsoft are TOTALLY committed to SBSC. I was at the discussions this week at WPC Houston and also pushing people like Michael Risse, VP of SMB. I was in the Vista Focus Group this week with Hilton and he certainly wasn’t “selling out”. Some you guys just don’t know what you’re talking about. I have been absolutely open with my PAL membership everthing meeting/conf call is on my blog but frankly most people DON’T care!

As Vlad said keep the shots coming and we’ll keep doing what we do because SBSC is THE BEST community in Microsoft bar none despite some of the comments on this post.

Thanks to Vlad for doing what he does because whilst I disagree with him on some things, I’ve learnt to respect him tremendously.

If you really think that MS is going to steal your clients from you, then you probably deserve to have them stolen from you. In three years Dell hasn’t taken one client from me and I don’t expect MS to do it either.

Like the story about the dog that chases the car and then finally catches it… What is he going to do with it?

Now if Microsoft controlled the price of oil, that would be a whole ‘nuther thing…..

Patrick from Santa Ana

So feel free to go for it, take your best shot.

Vlad Mobile