Richard, I am looking at this relative to product selection from the perspective of a long time EDI professional.
A few months ago the release of BT2006 was touted in a press release along with the delivery of the Covast EDI solution for 2006. We were led to believe this was the next generation of the product. We started working with it.
Now, three months after that Microsoft comes along and says "we copied nearly all of the functionality of Covast and we are now giving it away for free"
Here are the reasons this gives me pause to consider this as a viable product to offer to clients.
1. It demonstrates bad faith towards partners. Covast clearly didn't going into this expecting to get stabbed in the back three months later.
2. It demonstrates bad faith towards customers. Here MS was confidently promoting a solution and at the same time they clearly had to have known that they were going to pull the rug out from that solution a short time later. Are there refunds being offered to people who were misled into buying the solution that is being essentially given for free? Is it recommended that they now switch from Covast to the Microsoft copy of Covast?
3. How are existing Microsoft/Covast customers going to be supported, now that Microsoft has taken over the revenue stream and potential for new clients for Covast?
4. A product that radically changes course within three months time should raise a red flag to any professional (excluding fanboys).
5. This is essentially a version 1 release. How long until version 3?
So in a very short time, Microsoft has once again demonstrated a lack of concern for partners, a lack of concern for customers, and a willingness to mislead, use and discard any party at any time. I guess there is no concern for a business reputation here? No concern for the customers who have been lead down a dead end?
Let me remind you of the last arrogant player in the EDI arena: Harbinger. The thought the customer was at their mercy in the late 90s and they found out the hard way that if you don't care about the customer's concerns, you get dumped. Here is their URL, you can check how well that worked out for them. http://www.harbinger.com/
I realize it was perceived as a gain to eat and discard Covast, but did anyone consider the loss?
What am I supposed to tell my customers?