MS Bi blog has an intresting read about BI in the future, looks very promising :
Here’s an interesting read from The Seattle Times on what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Wall Street about Microsoft’s investment plans. The article provides a breakdown of the seven big businesses that Microsoft continues to invest in, including, Windows, Windows Mobile, Desktop Productivity (mainly Office) Servers, Enterprise Software, Internet Search and Advertising, and Entertainment and TV. For each category Ballmer describes profitability, allocation of operating expense, impact of the economy, competition and strategy. Take a look at more details in the PowerPoint slides that show the breakdown of how Microsoft stacks up in market share and competition spend on headcount and operating expense.
Business Intelligence is specifically called out in the Enterprise Software section, here are the details:
Enterprise software
Very profitable
Operating expense allocation: 10 percent, $2.75 billion. Investment relatively flat.
Employment: 5,900
Economic impact: IT budgets are tight, making it difficult to increase sales.
Competition: Ballmer sees an opportunity to take market share from Oracle, which dramatically outspends Microsoft on R&D and sales and marketing, he said.
Strategy: Microsoft has a host of new software for databases, online transaction processing, business intelligence and Web hosting. Ballmer said Microsoft is looking at Oracle’s licensing model for ways to break into some of its customers.