Microsoft’s COO Turner to Microsoft Partners: Help us beat Google

As partners heard over and over (and over again) at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver last week, Microsoft wants partners to get on the stick vis-a-vis software as a service (or software plus services as as Microsoft prefers to describe it).(Here is the URL for fanboyz who want to get cracking on this.)

Earlier in his keynote, Turner hammered home that Microsoft, unlike Google, built its dominance, with an active partner community. Google, on the other hand, is more a go-it-alone SaaS play.

Said Turner:

“The question I would have for all of you is, you should look at the ecosystem that Google has for partners. And if there’s not a monetization model there for you, then you should deduct, perhaps they could be a competitor, and join the fight.
. . . . .
That’s a challenge I would have for you. Ask the hard questions. And when you don’t get the right answers, make the right decision, make the right decision for your business, and do it in the right way,

(For the full transcript, click here.)

Earlier in the week, Microsoft’s enterprise search guys acknowledged that Google had some success hand picking SharePoint partners for its search appliance, but Microsoft has since reversed the trend.

Microsoft enterprise search guy Jared Spataro said most partners want to work with software, not a “black box” a la Google’s Search Appliance

In fact, at the show, Microsoft trotted out BearingPoint search lead exec Chris Weitz, probably Google’s highest-profile integration partner, as one of Microsoft’s premier search partners. Hmmmm.

Integration experts like BearingPoint can parlay their expertise in even the most esoteric back end applications and systems to bring a single search view of corporate (and Web) data to the enterprise. What Microsoft offers is a software platform and tools to do so vs. the aforementioned Google black box.