Financial Software Shake-Up -- In the continuing merger merry-go-round, Microsoft and Intuit announced amicable merger plans at a joint press conference on 12-Oct-94. Microsoft plans to purchase Intuit in a $1.5 billion stock trade, in which Intuit stock transmogrifies into Microsoft stock. Although current plans have Intuit employees and products remaining in their current locations and retaining their current names, both companies anticipate a general exchange of knowledge and (as Bill Gates put it repeatedly) "best practices."

In addition, Microsoft is selling Microsoft Money to Novell, contingent on the FCC's approval of the merger. It appears that Microsoft must sell Money to make sure there is still some competition in the financial software market. When asked how much Novell will pay for Microsoft Money, Bill Gates explained that, "the overall amount of money is not financially material so we are not disclosing a figure." Right. In any event, the folks at Intuit and Microsoft look forward to making all sorts of financial products which will help us file taxes and make financial decisions. I hope they also look forward to plowing lots of resources into creating reliable, speedy, and supportable products. [TJE]