Includipedia Blog

Microsoft BizSpark is a scheme whereby startups can access a load of Microsoft software without paying any money up front (but they’ll have to pay later, of course).

This is obviously attempting to compete with Linux-based server software (which is free as in beer as well as free as in speech). As Glyn Moody says: “If You Can’t Beat Them… bribe them”.

So what does BizSpark involve? The Program Guide (PDF link) explains the details. But I’ve read it, so you don’t have to.

BizSpark allows startups to use these programs for production use:

• Windows Server; SQL Server, BizTalk Server, and Office SharePoint Server for Internet Sites hosting, and
• Systems Center for managing hosting server operations.

For development, you can use:

• Visual Studio Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN Premium
• Visual Studio Team System Team Suite Team Foundation Server (Standard Edition)

“Visual Studio Team System Team Suite Team Foundation Server (Standard Edition)” is a bit of a mouthful so Microsoft helpfully abbreviate it to “(VSTS) Team Foundation Server (Standard Edition)”. “Team” is evidently the buzzword du jour at Microsoft HQ. Incidently, am I the only person who finds marketing-speak like this irritating?

Here are BizSpark’s eligibility requirements:

An eligible startup must have the following characteristics at the time of joining:

• Actively engaged in development of a software-based product or service that will form a core piece of its current or intended business (but note that Startups cannot be in the business of providing services to others such as hosting, web agency, system integration or outsourced
  development)

• Privately held,

• In business for less than 3 years, and

• Less than US $1 million in annual revenue (varies in different countries)

These exclusions seem arbitrary and ill-defined to me. What exactly is a “service […] such as hosting”? All Web 2.0 companies by definition provide a service hosting other people’s data (i.e. “user generated content”). This exclusion is presumably to prevent a traditional web design firm from benefitting from BizSpark, however these days innovative web companies are making tools that allow their users to customise and build ever-more-flexible things so the difference between these and a company that builds custom websites for others is getting narrower. If I was a startup considering using BizSpark, I’d be worried that Microsoft might suddenly decide to interprete this term to my disadvantage.

After 3 years on the BizSpark program, your startup is kicked off it, and if you still want to use Microsoft’s software (they’re hoping you’ll have well and truly entangled your business in it by then) you’ll be forced to pay the full price. And once they’ve achieved vendor lock-in, you’re at their mercy.

In keeping with its nature as a proprietary software service, BizSpark is a very bureaucratic and permission-requiring environment, where each Startup has to have a Primary Contact, who talks with a Network Partner, a Champ and Microsoft themselves. The Startup must host its website on a Hosting Partner (who may or may not be the same entity as the Network Partner). And in order to do all this, one must go through an Enrollment Process:

The BizSpark Startup enrollment process:

• The Startup must be associated with a Network Partner before joining. If a Startup is not associated with a participating BizSpark Network Partner, the Startup can select a Network Partner from the “Find a Network Partner” tool on the BizSpark Website. The contact information for the Network Partner will be provided to the Startup and the Startup can contact the Network Partner directly. If the Startup is not able to locate a Network Partner in its region, the Startup can contact a Microsoft representative via the BizSpark website to ask for assistance.

• Once a Startup is associated with a Network Partner and the Network Partner provides Startup with an enrollment code, Startup visits the BizSpark website to join. The Startup’s Primary Contact will sign in with a Windows Live^TM ID, read and accept the BizSpark Startup Agreement and the End User License Agreement. After entering the enrollment code provided by the Network Partner, the Primary Contact will provide basic contact information about the Startup. For more information on the enrollment process please see the BizSpark Program User Guide.

• Once the enrollment process is complete, the Startup’s Primary Contact will receive a “Welcome to the Microsoft BizSpark Program” email that includes their unique Subscription ID required to activate their benefits and download the software (delivered via the MSDN infrastructure).

By comparison, here is the process one needs to go through to use Linux-based software such as that which powers Includipedia:

• download the software
• start using it

In short, I cannot see BizSpark displacing GNU/Linux based Free Software as the platform of choice for startups. Not only is Free Software free of cost, it’s also free of restrictions: you don’t need anyone’s permission to use it, and you don’t need anyone’s permission to continue using after 3 years are up. But best of all, the software is actually better than what Microsoft offer: Apache, PHP, MySQL, Python, Wordpress, MediaWiki, Ruby, Rails, Django, etc are all at least as good as the equivalent Microsoft product, assuming one exists. (Of course, you could run these programs on the MS Windows OS, but why would you want to?).

As Glyn Moody says:

 Fortunately, people don’t choose the LAMP stack predominantly because it’s free, but because it’s better.

Tags: BizSpark, LAMP, Linux, Microsoft