Two unlikely destinations far from Microsoft's Seattle-area headquarters are becoming increasingly important to its future: Fargo, N.D., and Vedbaek, Denmark. Those are the respective locations of Great Plains Software and Navision, which Microsoft acquired in one of its most important initiatives in years. The two companies, which make accounting and other software, form the core of Microsoft's long-planned move into enterprise applications--complex programs designed to help companies do such things as close books, process orders, manage inventory, and track customers, suppliers and employees.
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