Powers Unfiltered

I got an email from the VSIP program last night, requesting that I fill out a satisfaction survey.  I did so happily — there’s nothing like a quick dose of VSIP to wash away the taste of a bad MSPP experience.

(OK, too much jargon — sorry. Let me explain.)

The Visual Studio Industry Partners (VSIP) program is, pound for pound, the best partner program run by Microsoft, period. The VSIP program is personal, effective, and responsive. True, it’s a LOT smaller than the enormous Microsoft Partner Program, and that makes it less prone to operational headaches than the giant MSPP, but it’s a great program. What have they done for us?

• Put our bits in front of 50,000 folks (directly in our target market) at TechEd and other conferences through the VSIP Partner DVD!
• Put our announcements in MSDN Flash!
• Helped arrange our participation in MSDN Webcasts!
• Subsidized our advertising! (Yup, we got cash — which as Yogi says is just as good as money — to spend on advertising our VS-related product.)
• Supported our press releases with timely quotes without a lot of Microsoftian fuss!

So — if you make software for the Windows platform, and it can be tied in any way to Visual Studio, RUN, do not walk, to the VSIP program. You’ll be glad you did!
And — if you run a partner program at Microsoft, and you want to see Redmond Best Practices in Action, RUN, do not walk, to the VSIP program. We’ll all be glad you did!