"Where Microsoft Gets It Right... I'll summarize this as Active Directory. IT departments are tired of administering user permissions in individual applications, instead doing everything in one place...a place like Active Directory where users are members of 'groups' with defined levels of access. Want to give everyone access to a SIP-based softphone? Make one change at the group level, and there you are...
Microsoft's vision for unified communications is an ambitious one... The markets for which Microsoft's vision is most appealing and deployable - consumer, SOHO and SMB - also lack the IT resources to adopt such a significant product play.
Meanwhile, larger enterprise customers are best-positioned to adopt Microsoft's platform model but are still focused on point solutions. Many large corporate customers just aren't asking for unified communications, high-minded architectures and IP telephony.
And then there are the carriers -- telecommunications providers who see Microsoft's plan as direct competition."
