So I spent the day doing what I ask partners to do all the time....calling up customers and asking them to attend an event (and buy software).

I had a slight advantage perhaps in saying I am an MS employee, but other than that they were just as cold.

Most of them were small, some really small, businesses, but I found a few things.

1. those who have seen Vista and Office 2007 are impressed and excited
2. people are willing (and in some cases, have) installed Office, but don't trust Vista until the first service pack is released
3. App/driver/device compatibility with Vista is a big concern
4. the new interface (both Vista and Office) is noticeable, but not the barrier to deployment
5. customers are convinced that it's more reliable and secure

The key takeaway here is an obvious one, but one that Microsoft would do well to remember...and which provides a big opportunity for partners.

Customers get the value proposition...what they want is some certainty that business operations will be minimally impacted (and that additional expenses surrounding Vista, i.e. printers/app migration, will be minimal and anticipated)