July 30, 2008, 8:03 PM — According to the latest cover story in the Redmond Channel Partner, Microsoft and the channel still need each other. It may be a love-hate relationship at times, but it's all about the money, and the Microsoft giant relies too much on its channel to alienate it. So, the obvious solution is to only alienate it a little.
The biggest shift in Microsoft history is its present move to Software-as-a-Service (or as they call it, "Software plus Services"), and channel challenges aside, Microsoft has to do this to survive in the Web 2.0 world. Nonetheless, channel partners have made a lot of money selling Microsoft, so they're understandably nervous about the whole thing. Those partners who have been bristling about the change have to realize, you don't make money selling yesterday's technology, and the handwriting's on the wall--get with the SaaS program or get into another line of work.
