This blog entry is a prototype that demonstrates how material can be incrementally revealed on the site as it progresses through multiple stages. The material below consists of the evolving content for this node. Ultimately, this node can be incorporated into other material as appropriate via the 'book' capability which allows pages to be added to a book hierarchy, while being developed independently by other members of a content development team.Discussion exploring alternative delivery (and profit) models for platforms & servicesMicrosoft model - they build products, you configureMicrosoft's game is to continue to deliver higher and higher feature content in tools & platforms

• Cost per seat' is high - especially when entire application stack (Server, Client, DB, communications, Integration agents, Applications) is included: easily $200/month/user in many environments
• Emphasis is on producing highest-quality output and highest-productivity solutions, to justify investment
• Their approach tends to work well in very large enterprises where scalability is critically important
• Their approach does not necessarily work as well for customized solutions for smaller teams - requests will tend to get lost in Microsoft product teams, who are always going to look for pushing technology out, rather than pulling more customers in. Simply put, their mandate is to pull in more users, which tends to require more functionality.

Problem is the more features, the less likely you are to know how to use them, and often, the less relevant (or at least understandable) they are to the users you already have. Read more »