Microsoft has become as powerful as it has in large part, the authors argue, because of its "partner ecosystem" a channel of service providers, resellers, developers, and manufacturing partners that increase their market traction through shared interests with the software giant. Even so, Dinsmore and O'Connor write, "Microsoft has neither precisely nor completely advised its partners how to engage the company as such...[and] the ordinary Microsoft partner's experience is a lot like the blind fellows in the elephant story," each perceiving just one portion of the whole. The two IT consultants provide a view of the entire elephant by analyzing Microsoft and the experiences of case-studied partners for clues to the firm's inner workings, culturally, strategically, and organizationally, and effective approaches to working with it. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)