Please check the partner page for restrictions. If I remember correctly, it is for IT companies only.
Once you are a registered partner, you can get so called action packs (which is a nice solution for small companies, that only needs up to 10 licenses of Office or - added just a few month ago - an action pack for developers which gives the company
3 Visual Studio Professional licenses together with MSDN which replaced the empower program (All licenses are limited to internal use for the company! But check the license agreement yourself!).
As a partner, you can gain competencies. That is a nice thing to earn points that are required for the higher memberships. Most competencies require that 2 people of the company have special certifications and a few customer reports (Sorry, might be the
wrong word. I am not a native english speaker). The competency, that I am interested in (ISV one) just requires a product that is certified for Windows and 4 customers. But again: I am not that deep inside all this stuff. I just checked the parts that was
of interest for me (I am one of the last Empower Partners - When I applied there was already rumors that it will be replaced with a simple action pack)
All processes are quite straight forward and easy. For some parts, you have to fullfill some requirements but that is always described in detail or - if it is not that clear, you can simply ask them directly. So as I mentioned: There is even a hotline
for partners that is friendly and will try to help you if you have any problems with the process.
With kind regards,
Konrad
