Susan E. Bradley has a beef with Microsoft. And she’s not just anybody. Bradley isn’t on Microsoft’s payroll. But she is a CPA/CITP, Microsoft SBS MVP and MCP. And in her spare time, she picked up a SANS Global Information Assurance Security Essentials Certification (GSEC).

Somehow, Bradley finds the time to knock out books while whipping out the most happening blog in the Small Business Server world: E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS “Diva.”

Here’s what Microsoft Security Newsletter penned about her when it named her MVP of the Month, November 2005:

Susan Bradley, SBS MVP, CPA/CITP, MCP, GSEC, from Fresno, California, is a geek and blogger as well as a CPA/CITP who holds the GSEC security credential. She writes on patch management issues for Brian Livingston’s Windows Secrets Newsletter and has co-authored a book on Small Business Server. She also co-authored an e-book on patch management with Anne Stanton for Ecora Software.Susan is an MVP in the categories of Small Business Server and Security and volunteers for the Center for Internet Security in its benchmark and standard-setting processes.

A past chairman of the Technology Committee for the California Society of CPAs, Susan’s been a speaker at SMB Nation events, AICPA Tech Conferences, and regional CPA Technology Conferences on the topic of security. She strongly urges businesses of all shapes and sizes to be more secure and believes that education of your end users is one of the best security purchases your firm can make.

If Bradley’s not a team player, there’s no such thing. Which makes her anger that much more poignant. What has her fried? This Q&A from Microsoft’s Windows Small Business Server 2003: Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. Does SBS 2003 R2 include all of Windows Server 2003 R2?A. No. Most of the new features in Windows Server 2003 R2 are designed for medium- to large-sized businesses, and therefore are not applicable to the small business customer. SBS 2003 R2 will only include one Windows Server 2003 R2 component and that component is Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2. SBS 2003 R2 will also include updates to Exchange Server 2003 (Service Pack 2), and new automated patch and update management (WSUS 2.0). The Premium version of SBS 2003 R2 will also include SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition.

All that chatter about SBS getting Sharepoint is meaningless, because Sharepoint is automatically included in Microsoft update and all versions of Windows Server 2003 and Small Business Server 2003.

Bradley’s outraged that Microsoft would try to make SBS subscribers think they were getting something special, when they’re not.

On her blog, she wrote this week:

You know why Linux is going to win the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of businesses? Because we, John Q. Public are losing trust in you. Truly, we are. You are slowing eroding the trust. And quite frankly stuff like this plays right into that.

As proof that Microsoft’s trust issues extend beyond server software, Bradley points to a comment she spotted about Microsoft Defender:

If we relegate watching and protecting for malware, trojans, adware, spyware and the like to Microsoft, who will be watching them?

Perhaps if enough Microsoft partisans start sounding off like this, Redmond will ditch the hype and resume adding value the old fashioned way.