Updated: July 14, 2020 (July 23, 2007)
Charts & IllustrationsHow Partners Fit into Software Plus Services
According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft will focus on four basic categories of services. The following chart shows those services and how partners might be able to plug into them.
| Service Category | Product or Service Example | Possible Partner Roles |
| Personal productivity | Windows Live, Office Live, Popfly | Customization, add-ons |
| Live Search, Virtual Earth, AdCenter | Embed services in applications, other services | |
| Business services | Exchange Hosted Services | Resell |
| Managed Exchange and SharePoint | Resell or host | |
| Office Live, Dynamics CRM Live | Customize, add on, resell | |
| Developer services | Cloud infrastructure services | Write applications |
| Silverlight, BizTalk Services | Develop related services, applications | |
| Service enablers | Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio | Write applications, host applications and services |
| ActiveX, ASP.NET, AJAX, Silverlight, Softgrid | Use as development |
Atlas Members have full access
Get access to this and thousands of other unbiased analyses, roadmaps, decision kits, infographics, reference guides, and more, all included with membership. Comprehensive access to the most in-depth and unbiased expertise for Microsoft enterprise decision-making is waiting.
Membership OptionsAlready have an account? Login Now