FUDBusters: Oracle's Enterprise App Competitor -- Microsoft?

FUDBust: If there were awards for spin, both Oracle's and Microsoft's lawyers would be carrying trophies bigger than their egos.

Oracle's white paper on the competitive threat posed by Microsoft is impressive, but it overlooks one thing: No large enterprise in its right mind would build its entire business on Microsoft SQL and Excel. Any enterprise application RFP worth its salt would have to focus on Oracle, SAP and PeopleSoft--or, if the PeopleSoft acquisition is allowed, Oracle and SAP. A Microsoft-only solution just isn't an option for most Fortune 500 companies.

And Microsoft's contention that it does not compete in enterprise applications is laughable. Show us a Fortune 500 company that doesn't use Excel, Word or SQL in some capacity. Microsoft does play a role, however ancillary, in most enterprise application environments, and it shouldn't be ashamed to admit it.