Understanding core technologies (David Strom) -- "But vendors have to pick their partners more carefully these days. If you aren't central to their core business, you aren't going to get the best levels of support, the best discounts, the best mind-share and attention." (Comments: Not sure if this is a new idea. For smaller organizations, dealing with IBM, Microsoft, HP, and others has always been a problem. Small companies can't get no love, in good times or bad. Small organizations are almost always ignored by the Big Dogs. So, the idea of "partners" might only be useful for medium and large business. What do you think?)