I saw this on Karen Hobert's blog:

Microsoft showcased at the show this week a number of its partners who’ve already jumped on the BPOS bandwagon. To encourage others to start selling the suite, Microsoft announced that it will offer partners 250 BPOS seats for their own use.

You can read all the details on Microsoft's Partner Network page. Lots of fine print. For instance, here who is eligable:

• Certified Partners
• Gold Certified Partners
• Microsoft Action Pack subscribers
• Empower for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) members
• Registered Members who have signed the Microsoft Online Services Partner Agreement (that is, who have enrolled in QuickStart)

So this is not available to everyone - you have to put some skin in the game to play. But, Microsoft is clearly saying to it's partners "BPOS is a big deal, go use it yourself, sell what you know" ... and I want IBM to do the same thing. I would like to see IBM offer complete LotusLive packages to every partner. Require some level of skin, but then give me access to every single piece of LotusLive. Not just Engage, but Connections, Meetings, Events, both web and hosted Notes email, and everything else. Enable me as a partner to use LotusLive every day. Then, when I get in situations where I am talking cloud solutions to my customers and prospects, I can show them how I do business every day. That will be far more compelling than any info you give me on a SalesTalk or any presentation you make available.

For the record, I don't care about issues people have with PartnerWorld or the Software option. Please don't pollute this post with that. But thoughts on if you are a partner and you would use this; and it would enable you to sell LotusLive better; are most welcome.