hey all you microsoft partners...don't forget!

one of the changes included with microsoft partner program 2.0 that went live here in the states in november of last year was the inception of a common re-enrollment date for everybody.

so...odds are...your company's re-enrollment date is now january 31st.

prolly a good idea to actually check your renewal date, right now.

so go ahead...use your bookmark or favorite for the partner program home page and sign in.

what's that you say?

you don't have a bookmark or favorite set for the partner program home page?

and the reason for that is...you don't ever go to the partner program home page?

well, that's a whole other blog post. for now...just click here, and then login.

right at the very top you should see your program anniversary date.

and...if you are within 90 days of expiration, there should also be a section at the top of the page that reminds you of this and suggests you renew, with included links.

as time marches on this month, more and more folks who put off renewing are going to be trying to access this website to re-enroll before the deadline.

the best advice this friendly neighborhood happyfunboy can give you?

set a reminder to complete your renewal tomorrow!
doesn't matter when tomorrow...just that it is completed tomorrow.

then you're done, and don't have to worry about getting your renewal in later this month.

thankfully...the renewal process has been much simplified over previous years.

if memory serves, last year i remember it being a 6-7 screen process. but it actually seemed much longer because i kept getting timeouts while trying to finish the renewal process. in all, much more stressful than it needed to be, no doubt.

well...your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy is glad to announce to say:

that was then, this is now!

the renewal process has been chopped down to 3-4 screens of info, most of which is obviously pre-populated for you if you are renewing. and here at the funcave, the responsiveness of the site was fantastic.

also, in what i consider a major improvement, the list of supported technologies has been updated and pruned to reflect only current ms technologies. so you aren't forced to pick and choose from a humongous list of products, 95% of which microsoft has been hounding you to get your customers to upgrade from anyway.

i ranted about this issue a good while ago.

with all the visits from blue badges over the past several months...maybe someone took notice and sent that idea up the chain.

either way...the big news about renewal this year?

it's easier, faster, and much less hassle than in past years. so instead of worrying about sinking an hour of time into renewing...you can get it done in about 15 minutes.

yours truly completed our firm's renewal this past thursday, while listening and watching jeff middleton's webcast on swing migration. took me longer to get approval to use one of our firm's credit card numbers than it did to complete the renewal.

so don't wait.

do it!
do it now!