Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2009
For the second year in a row, July has been the month of Microsoft Partner Conference 2009 for me. This year, it was in New Orleans, LA. SoftCom Inc., the company I work for, is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. This fancy designation, in short means, we almost live and die by Microsoft. Considering the importance of the event for the company and the interesting location, anticipation had been building up since couple of months.
Microsoft is a partner oriented company. Until very recently, the business model had been solely based on partners. They know how to train and entertain their partners. It is a simple method: “Work hard, play hard.”. The day starts early filled with keynotes, sessions, meetings and continues into the evening and night with business dinners, networking drinks and parties ending sometime around the wee hours of the next morning. Then it starts all over again and again and again. I have to say, to attend a Microsoft Conference and to operate at 100% is hard. But then again, you reap great rewards.
Here are the highlights from this year:
- Windows 7
- Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview
- Bing, the new decision engine from Microsoft
- Microsoft Partner Network launch and new partner resources which come with it
- Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s new cloud computing platform and its pricing model
- MIcrosoft’s commitment to R&D and its tenacious pursuit of excellence and value in all product lines outlined by Steve Ballmer, CEO
- Microsoft’s detailed competitive strategy against Google, Apple, VMWare, IBM and SAP outlined by Kevin Turner, COO
Last year around these times, there were controversial issues surrounding Microsoft like Windows Vista’s weak uptake in the market, launch of Business Productivity Online Services and its competitors gaining momentum. Hence, at last year’s WPC in Houston, Microsoft’s message to its partner community was not very strong and clear.
As Steve Ballmer stated in his keynote, when you have a strong culture of innovation and a stash of almost 10 billion dollars allocated for R&D every year, it is no wonder that Microsoft keeps coming and coming until they get their act together and come up with a valuable product. Judging by all these major achievements either being launched or coming to fruition this year, apparently, Microsoft cranked up the 9.4 billion dollar R&D engine within the last year.
Windows 7 Taskbar and Screenshot
Microsoft asks us to bet on Microsoft in these competitive times. While we have already been doing that at SoftCom since many years, it is always easier to bet on a company as long as they keep delivering value and innovation. Therefore, the next couple of months will indeed be interesting times as Microsoft will start rolling out all the major product launches to general public. Personally, I am very excited about these new technologies and curious about how the competition will unfold.
For detailed information and videos from the keynotes sessions, you can always visit Digital WPC.
Written by Kaan Bora on July 31st, 2009 with
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