Microsoft has made the most detailed description to date of its new channel program, which is believed to be largely concerned with reducing the number of resellers. Doug Kennedy, VP of Dynamics partners, says that the company is introducing a Lead Referral program that would enable them to be compensated for referrals that lead to Dynamics sales. Central to these is the Incentive program. As discussed by Kennedy, the new structure rewards growth and total revenue. "In many cases partners will have the opportunity to earn more than they do today.

Statements from Microsoft and SAP this week outlined two key differences in philosophies with which these vendors approach the technology market. Microsoft's philosophy is implicit in a statement from VP Doug Kennedy that changes to support and services are designed to support the entire Microsoft stack. That information was issued this week as was a very strong plug for openness and choice as SAP discussed its results for the third quarter ended September 30.

The announcements of Intacct’s addition of VARs haven't as big a splash as I anticipate. The company, which has an alliance with CPA2Biz, has an obvious in with CPA firms and says it has hundreds of those using its Web-based applications, largely to provide outside controllership services. But the addition of VARs has been one at a time, not in a group of high-powered resellers that have signed on. The most recent is a Patterson, N.Y.-based JMT Consulting Group, one of Sage’s top nonprofit resellers.

Call it the Steve Elop rule after the executive who left Microsoft last month to become CEO of Nokia. Apparently people other than me raised eyebrows and a bunch of other body parts about Microsoft’s having paid former Microsoft Business Division president $6.5 million for his house, a number that includes a $1.4 million tax gross up. Elop, who was with Microsoft for two years, had a deal under which the company agreed to pay the difference between what he paid for the house and the appraised value, which was appraised after property values fell dramatically.