Empower Program

Anyone sign up and use the Empower Program??  Microsoft called us recently
and give us the info on it.  From what it looks like as a whole it sounds
great - 5 MSDN Univeral subcriptions and a bunch of "internal use"
licenses.  I am told by the MS rep that internal use means more than
Development/Testing.  Either way, I am having reservations about signing up
for this.  I'm told that at the end of two years you have to submit your
product for testing.

What our rep did not mention - and I gleamed from other newsgroup users -
is that the testing process can be quite expensive??  He told us there were
no catches and this seems to be a big catch :)  The whole conversations
from the MS rep were based around that Microsoft wanted to help smaller
companies use their software when they nornally might not be able to.  Just
looking for some feedback on anyone that is familiar with this program.
Thanks!!

"Jack" <ccbird33@hotmail.com> wrote in message
 news:Xns954067932FCE4ccbird33hotmailcom@
66.192.254.230...
> Anyone sign up and use the Empower Program??  Microsoft called us recently
> and give us the info on it.  From what it looks like as a whole it sounds
> great - 5 MSDN Univeral subcriptions and a bunch of "internal use"
> licenses.  I am told by the MS rep that internal use means more than
> Development/Testing.  Either way, I am having reservations about signing
> up

Your best bet is to read the official Requirements and Benefits:
http://members.microsoft.com/partne...svcomp/empower/

It's important to understand that you are not getting "normal" MSDN
subscriptions. You are getting MSDN subscription media and access to the
MSDN Subscriber Downloads site, but you will be subject to a different
license agreement. One key difference is that MSDN subscribers have a
perpetual license to use the products they receive during their subscription
term (for dev/test), but after your Empower membership terminates, so do the
licenses for all software you received. In theory, Empower participates will
"grow into" the Certified Partner program which also provides licensing for
MSDN-supplied product, so it's theoretically perpetual as long as you
perpetually remain a Microsoft partner of some sort. You just can't remain
at the Empower level because it's an entry-level designed as a "feeder" or
"incubator" for the Certified Partner level.

Another key difference is that the Empower program allows you to use certain
products for production (in other words, for running your business). For
example, a normal MSDN subscriber is not allowed to use Exchange server as
the production mail server for an organization, but you would be able to.

> for this.  I'm told that at the end of two years you have to submit your
> product for testing.

The original requirements of the Empower program are here:
https://empower-isv.one.microsoft.c...quirements.aspx

These were later replaced by the first URL above. You are still meant to
develop an application with the intention of submitting it for testing by
the applicable logo certification program, but it's more of a good-faith
"pledge" on your part.

> What our rep did not mention - and I gleamed from other newsgroup users -
> is that the testing process can be quite expensive??  He told us there
> were

Last time I checked, the testing fees ranged from $500 to $30,000 (depending
on the type of app) but they have added some new tests since then. These
fees are paid to an outside testing service, not to Microsoft.

> no catches and this seems to be a big catch :)  The whole conversations
> from the MS rep were based around that Microsoft wanted to help smaller
> companies use their software when they nornally might not be able to.
> Just

That's not quite Microsoft's motivation. Basically, Microsoft wants to beef
up the third-party app marketplace in small niche industries. There are lots
of Line-Of-Business apps for small niches which have fallen behind on their
technology utilization. In many small industries, the most "advanced"
product available was written for DOS or Win16 and uses Xbase or BTrieve
files on Netware servers. Microsoft has an interest in pushing these people
to Windows XP, to Windows Server 2003, to SQL Server, etc. Individually,
none of these organizations matter to the Microsofts and Oracles of the
world, but if Microsoft can motivate the small ISVs who serve those niches,
they could collectively turn into ongoing revenue and market share expansion
for Microsoft.

Bottom line: Some people will join and fail to comply with the requirements
just because 2 years is a long time, the economy is rough, and software
development isn't a perfect science. Realistically, Microsoft isn't going to
come after you in 2 years if you honestly tried and failed. Other people
will fail to comply because they're intentionally taking advantage of big,
rich Microsoft. Probably some (maybe all) will get away with it. The way I
was raised, a deal is a deal. If nobody is forcing you to take it, but you
take it anyway, then you need to follow through on your promise.

Yes, my SOHO consulting/software business <http://NuovoDoc.com> joined the
program in June.  Ronny Ong's description and the links he provides are
exactly right.  The online Microsoft Empower Program for ISVs Program Guide
tells you everything you need, and you can read through all of the agreement
s
and decide if they fit with what you are up to.

I recall seeing that -- I am not bothering to look this up -- one of the
aspects of product certification will involve obtaining a signing key for th
e
software.  There is also a suggestion that there may be some assistance
available in obtaining certification for a neophyte product.  A "Verified fo
r
Windows XP" would work (for a client product) or you could obtain  "Certifie
d
for Windows XP", with different MS-authorized tests applying for other
platforms.

The initial screening was interesting.  The web site requirement is serious
and I was advised to make some changes in order to qualify.  It was very
useful.  In going through that exercise I saw other areas I need to pay
attention to as well, and I'm working on that.

In addition to the package and the most-useful MSDN Universal subscription,
there are other kinds of support including newsletters and also contacts at
Microsoft.

1. There is an ISV Empower team that will call and check with you, though
mostly we've been playing phone tag and I haven't had a meaningful discussio
n
with them about what I'm doing yet.

2. Also, there is a Microsoft Buddy program, where you can have an
internal-developer (or maybe MSDN) contact.  And there are all of the
informal access-points now available as the result of Channel9, all of the
MSDN bloggers, etc.

3.  There's also a competency process that can be valuable, as well as
marketing support (with a big thrust in security accompanined by marketing
tools with programs for supporting your customers, providing briefings, etc.
)

The licenses do expire, so you'd want to make sure that your own
infrastructure and development tools that you will use ongoingly are
retail-licensed (unless you move up the certified-partner food chain).
There's also a different program that provides an economical set of licenses
for internal (non-developer) tools such as Office 2003, etc.

Benefits I have taken so far (it is very early in what I am doing) is using
the MSDN site to download the XPSP2 ISO image and in installing Visio 2003
Professional to use with the new Threat Modeling Tool for security projects.
And, if it isn't clear from what I already said, the qualification process
was valuable as is the structure and incentive for getting a product into th
e
marketplace!  We'll see how well that actually worked in 6-12 months from no
w.

"Jack" wrote:

> Anyone sign up and use the Empower Program??