[link|http://www.mcpressonline.com/mc/.6aeba0e1!more=1#more|http://www.mcpresson...ba0e1!more=1#more]

#2(in particular - see bit at bottom re admission by Microsoft that it had been discussing a merger with SAP !)

EXTRACT >>>>
Oracle Suit Spawns Strange Behaviors
by Lee Kroon

A San Francisco courtroom is playing host to the soap opera that the enterprise application market has become.

Published June 2004

Last Monday, a federal judge rang down the opening gavel in the antitrust lawsuit that the United States Department of Justice (
DOJ) filed against Oracle Corporation. That lawsuit seeks to block the software vendor from acquiring its long-time rival, PeopleSoft. While nobody knows how the judge will ultimately rule in this case, one thing is certain. The lawsuit is sucking other IT vendors into its vortex and leading them to act in ways that are making the enterprise applications market an increasingly complicated place.

To understand why this is happening, it helps to know the
arguments that the DOJ and Oracle are leveling against each other in court. As the DOJ sees it, three vendors dominate the market for enterprise applications: SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle. While many niche vendors also have a share of the market, they can rarely meet the complete needs of large and medium-size corporations. This forces such companies to choose from the "Big Three." Reducing that group to two vendors would severely reduce competition and lead to high software prices.

In response, Oracle is arguing that the DOJ has not properly defined the enterprise applications market. It points out that several niche vendors have significant shares of specific industries and geographic regions. The company is drawing upon market share statistics--such as that shown in the following graph--in an attempt to prove its point. It also argues that Microsoft intends to compete with the Big Three by selling its enterprise applications to large and medium-size firms, and that this competition will lead to lower software prices.
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Article goes into further detail on the market etc:.

Our company uses Peoplesoft so we have an interest in how this pans out. But, we now don't believe it will go any further other than be of interest through the court proceedings.

#2
2nd EXTRACT >>>>
Last Monday, however, Microsoft revealed that it approached SAP in late 2003 about a potential merger. While Microsoft broke off those discussions a few months later, its revelation sends a clear signal about its desire to become a much larger enterprise applications vendor. That signal supports Oracle's argument.

For its part, SAP is taking actions that help to make Microsoft part of the enterprise applications space. In mid-May, the German software vendor announced that it would collaborate with Microsoft to make SAP applications integrate easily with solutions based on Microsoft's .NET development platform. The two firms also agreed to work together on product integration, to collaborate on marketing, and to cross-license some patents to each other.
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Doug M