Wednesday, October 26, 2005

What You Can Learn from Microsoft

I went to the Tampa Bay Microsoft SBS Users Group meeting which was also the Small Biz Server 2003 Road Show from Redmond. Lots of MS guys. I learned a few things:
  • When your business grows from 2 employees to 5 to 10 to 25, chances are your client will have similar employee size. The bigger you are, the bigger your client is.
  • It takes 4-6 hours to install SBS SP 1. Ouch!
  • Dell is a huge SBS house.
  • Great Thinking and Poor Execution is a common business error.
  • You need: More Obvious Value (Remarkable things get remarked on).
  • Sharp System Integrators bill for a minimum number of hours per month per the service contract. (No flat rate).
  • SBS 2003 has been a huge growth product for MS. "And every server needs looking after."
  • Maintenance contracts are like Insurance. You insure your house, car and business - why not your network and data??
  • Placeware is now Live Meeting.
  • SharePoint will probably be used for rented apps (ASP).
  • Still don't know what the heck BizTalk Server is for.
  • SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 & BizTalk Server 2006 Launch is Dec. 8th in Orlando for those of you attending the ISP Expo in Tampa on Dec. 9 & 10. You could kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

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