Although some people have a view that Microsoft is a money grabbing, monopoly that listens to no one and cares less about the rest, I have to confess to being of a completely different opinion.
One example that supports my view are the Microsoft Partner Advisory Councils. For a number of Microsoft’s key initiatives, small groups of recognised experts from the global partner community are invited to attend two day sessions, two to three times a year to represent the needs and views of the partners and help influence the direction of the initiative.
I am fortunate to be one of the founding members of the Software plus Services PAC (S+SPAC) [clearly disproving the notion of recognised experts!!] and although involvement with a PAC is covered by NDA’s due to the forward looking nature of the meeting contents, I can assure you that external views are listened to and acted upon. All the PACs have senior level Microsoft people presenting ideas and plans for review, however the all encompassing umbrella nature of S+S means that we have had people from pretty much all the areas within Microsoft.
It is extremely satisfying to see how initial ideas are refined and updated and when they finally reach the light of day the contribution of the PAC is there to see.
I’m out to Seattle in March and within the confines of my NDA I will report back.
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