<p>Having just attended the Microsoft Australian Partner Conference and spent three-and-a-half days looking at their latest technologies being released to market, I have to say I am impressed. This year Microsoft will release more new versions of its operating systems and software than in any previous year.</p><p>I have been using and recommending Microsoft technology to businesses for about 18 years. In that time there have been plenty of technology alternatives from Linux to Novel to Google and Apple and all along I have looked at the gains offered to business productivity and real cost to business of each of the technologies. Not just in the operating systems but also in the applications and productivity tools.</p><p>Microsoft's acquisitions and R&D focus</p><p>Since 1987 Microsoft has been buying companies from Visio to Great Plains and Navision, Skype and beyond, over 145 acquisitions and at least five of them over $US1 billion. They have developed the Office suite and Microsoft Project along with SharePoint and Exchange, which for a long time was in close competition as the engine for email against players like Lotus Notes. Microsoft has also forged ahead on the database front with its SQL server against many worthy competitors from Oracle and DB2 to Sybase and MySQL.</p><p><a href="http://www.smartcompany.com.au/tech-strategy/051792-should-we-care-what-microsoft-is-up-to-in-2012-6.html">Keep reading...</a></p>