n 2006, Microsoft will be like a baseball team coming to the heart of its batting order. Having sent SQL Server to the plate in November 2005, Microsoft will bring new versions of Windows and Office out in 2006. The following year will bring a new version of Exchange server and Windows server. In other words, between November 2005 and sometime in 2007, all five of Microsoft's products that generate more than $1 billion a year each in revenue for the company will be out in new versions.
No wonder Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been bragging about Microsoft's "pipeline" for months now. Indeed, to mark Microsoft's 30th anniversary last fall, company materials noted that over the next 18 months, Microsoft will deliver twice the number of new products and services that it delivered during the past three years combined.
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