THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"

http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2009/10/30/so-what-about-those-action-pack-licenses.aspx

It's been several days and I still don't have any word one way or the other about the status of those folks in the MPAN program that no longer "fit" into the new Microsoft Partner Network.

And I'm not feeling good about the fact that the gentleman from the MPN phone number 800-765-7768 hasn't called me back when he said he would the following day.  The problem with dealing with a large blob of a corporation is that it's hard to find the right person to talk to and when you call into 800 numbers you may not be in the right spot to get an authoritative answer.

First off to anyone who signed up for MPAN or who urged their clients to sign up for MPAN, especially if it was due to something I posted, I'm sorry. I'm not feeling good if you did so on my recommendation and now this occurred.  If I were even a moderately rich person, any CPA who was in this limbo state of not possibly now being licensed properly, I'd offer to buy them licenses.  But I can't afford that.  All I can do is say I'm sorry and be more wary about marketing based offers next time.

I still hope that someone in a position of power will understand the situation here and waive the licensing for these impacted folks and just let them continue to use the existing Action pack licenses and grandfather their use rights.  I only hope that someone at Microsoft understand that it's not good business to design a marketing plan for a product that entices folks into a software licensing offer that was designed to get CPAs to be interested in an accounting product, that if they can now no longer qualify for, means that it's a big chunk of change that suddenly comes due that no one was anticipating.  Especially now in this economy.

My firm is not in this category of being affected, because I kept on recommending that we buy the Software assurance via the 3 year licensing.  So maybe that makes me a bit of an ingenuous person since if I kept recommending 'normal licensing' to my firm, in the back of my mind, I guess I always had a doubt that Office Accounting would never stand a chance and that some day Microsoft would pull back on the MPAN program and folks would be left high and dry.

Some of these CPA firms do have an IT side of them, do have folks that are SBSCs, do qualify to be in a competency in the Microsoft Partner Network.  Those firms are not at risk because the qualify as a "traditional" Microsoft Partner.  Either in general IT, or in Microsoft Dynamics, they will fit.  But if they fit, it's probably because they always fit as they had an IT niche.  

But it's the folks that are only in the program because Office Accounting thought they'd go after Quickbooks that concern me.  It's these folks, a small group of people that I just can't see fitting anymore into the Microsoft Partner Network.  Their primary focus was and still is Quickbooks and not the Dynamics stack.  I can't see where they fit into the Microsoft Partner Network.  Microsoft can say 'well we separated out the Action pack, Microsoft Partner network and the MPAN program about a year ago'. 

That's all fine and good, but Microsoft, you don't treat your customers like this.  It's not their fault you took on the 80 pound Gorilla of Intuit and you lost.  It's not their fault the economy kicked in and someone decided to retrench. It's not their fault they are not caught in the downsizing, layoffs and product cutting that Microsoft is into now. 

But it is Microsoft's fault that even with the layoffs you are still so big that I can't find the answer, and we're still in limbo. 

I'm still hoping that someone in a position of power will do the right thing and grandfather folks that were in the MPAN program and allow their licenses to be in perpetuity just this one time.  I honestly don't think it's too much to ask for given the circumstances of the reason for the closing of the MPAN program.  I'm hoping that like in most instances of dealing with Microsoft, that silence I'm getting means that someone somewhere is taking action.

I hope.