Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other company leaders are in Denver this week, hosting the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. The event provides a critical opportunity for Microsoft to bolster multiple software strategies. Here are the five most pressing issues facing the company and its partners, according to The VAR Guy.

5. Energize Microsoft Live: Salesforce.com, NetSuite and even Google have become poster children for software as a service. Not so for Microsoft Live, the software giant’s rival offering. The company must clarify how it plans to offer hosted software to customers, and what role — if any — partners will play in the strategy. Watch for Microsoft to focus heavily on its forthcoming CRM Live service during the conference, according to CRN.

4. Master Managed Services: Microsoft must provide best-in-class tools that allow partners to remotely manage and monitor customer networks. With those goals in mind, Microsoft must embark on stronger, more clearly defined relationships with managed service platform providers — companies like Autotask, ConnectWise, Kaseya and N-able.

3. Get PC Companies Back On Board: Dell just announced additional consumer PCs with Ubuntu Linux pre-loaded. And Dell will soon sell Ubuntu PCs outside of the US market. If Ubuntu continues to gain momentum, it wouldn’t surprise The VAR Guy to see Dell introduce Linux PCs for small business, K-12 schools and universities. Watch for HP to follow Dell into this market. That would be a disaster for Microsoft. The company needs to fix Vista (see item 2, below) in order to keep PC companies on board.

2. Fix Vista: Sure, Microsoft sold more than 40 million Vista licenses during the operating system’s first 100 days of release. But there’s mounting evidence from Dell, hardware partners and resellers that many customers don’t want Vista. Here are 10 reasons Vista missed the mark and 10 ways Microsoft could fix Vista.

1. Make Windows Server 2008 A Must-Have Upgrade: Microsoft cannot afford another botched operating system launch. In addition to designing its own applications for Windows Server 2008, Microsoft must ensure that Sugar CRM, MySQL and other open source software runs flawlessly on Windows Server 2008.