WSJ.com - Microsoft, SAP Plan a Joint Product

WSJ.com - Microsoft, SAP Plan a Joint Product: "The new product, expected to be available this fall, will integrate Microsoft's Office suite of desktop applications, which includes the Excel spreadsheet and the Outlook e-mail and calendar program, with SAP's mySAP suite of 'enterprise-resource-planning' applications. The goal is to enable workers to use familiar desktop products from Microsoft to display and manipulate back-office systems from SAP for functions such as budget monitoring, expense management and inventory control.
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Cooperation between the two companies accelerated last year, after talks that included a proposal from Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., to acquire Germany's SAP in what would have been a blockbuster deal to reshape the software industry. Reports of the talks surfaced during the antitrust trial over Oracle's purchase of PeopleSoft Inc. Mr. Agassi said there have been no subsequent merger talks. "We had a conversation. We listened. That was the end of the conversation," he said."