Microsoft has gained an important integrator, says ZapThink analyst Jason Bloomberg. “Microsoft doesn’t get much penetration into the enterprise, and HP can help. They’ll open up the doors at large companies.” Once those doors are open, HP can contribute something else with which Microsoft hasn’t had historic success. “Microsoft never had much of a professional services arm,” Bloomberg says. HP’s developers are an important constituency for Microsoft, he adds. “The move from VisualBasic to VisualBasic.NET is a move towards object-oriented programming, so some developers are asking why they shouldn’t switch to Java. There’s a risk of losing the core developer base.” Gaining developers at HP mitigates this risk.

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