WSJ.com - Microsoft Believes Oracle's Bid For PeopleSoft Portends a Clash

WSJ.com - Microsoft Believes Oracle's Bid For PeopleSoft Portends a Clash "In an interview Monday, Mr. Burgum, who heads the Business Solutions division, said Oracle's recent maneuvering doesn't alter Microsoft's focus on small and midsize business applications. He plays down any head-on competition between the two companies in that area, saying if anything an acquisition would distract from Oracle's efforts to expand there. And he dismissed the idea that Microsoft is going to counter with a white-knight bid for PeopleSoft or a splashy deal of its own.
Mr. Burgum says the application market for large businesses is "not interesting for us." Instead, Microsoft will continue driving into the market for small- and medium-size business customers while trying to fend off any big interlopers. Microsoft's approach is to create a set of software components that its resellers can customize for specific sectors and regions. Mr. Burgum estimates that some 3,600 software vendors sell programs for smaller businesses, making the segment ripe for Microsoft to bring standardization."