This article is completely inaccurate IMHO and misses some key points of Microsoft's differentiation.

* Cisco wants to sell you Jabber, WebEx. Telepresence, Call Manager and Switches (all overpriced with high maintenance costs IMHO). Microsoft has one software program (and 5 vendors making phone handsets) that can do it all at typically 50-66% the costs of a phone only Cisco solution.

* Cisco's problem is they love to sell overpriced gear with high maintenance costs. Why would you want best of breed devices...when you guy overpay for the Cisco label stamped on your phone.

* The hauppauge of Cisco software and hardware raises costs to train and provision users. With Lync, you just enable an Active Directory user…inside or outside the company…with desk phones (from Polycom, Snom, Aastra, etc.) or using your PC.

PS - Like Juniper, I think Cisco is a swell routing company. That doesn't mean they know how to make users productive with that experience (over Microsoft, the office productivity firm)...and it takes more than upgrading to 10GB Ethernet to make a user communicate effectively. IMHO, Lync will make a user twice as productive in a real world environment with elegant simplicity of unified communications tool...which is why it grows at 300% every year in the marketplace.