Microsoft announced plans to enter the lucrative $13 billion-a-year market for business intelligence software. Alongside the rash of open source BI plays recently, this is welcome news for consumers. Microsoft and Open Source are working together (albeit through the market's invisible hand) to create bottom up pressure on Hyperion, MicroStrategy, Business Objects, Cognos, SAS and others. Who said Microsoft and Open Source can't get along?
As a side note, the battle between Microsoft Office and Open Office will eventually take shape as a platform battle. Compare Internet Explorer with Firefox. IE is monolothic and closed. Firefox is agile and open, in the sense of allowing third parties to add extensions on the fly. The more Microsoft allows third party plug-ins and extensions (not just its own) to Office, the more likely it will be able to maintain its market dominance.
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