That is the question most of us would be asking when the Redmond giant throws down the gauntlet in the in e-CRM space, dominated by Salesforce.com.  

The new product, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live, is the most extensive business push on the Web for the software giant. Starting in mid-2007, the company will host a service on its data center servers that will let customers manage business contacts and help them follow sales leads. The software will have the same look and feel that the packaged version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM has today.

Businessweek has more on Microsoft’s catch-up plan and Salesforce.com

Unica Corporation (NASDAQ: UNCA) is a leading global provider of Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM) software. It focusses exclusively on the needs of marketing organizations. Its Affinium software addresses the principal functions of EMM including marketing and customer analytics, demand generation, and marketing resource management.

Affinium provides a complete platform to transform the entire marketing process including planning, budgeting, project management, execution and measurement for brand, relationship and internet marketing. Over 400 companies worldwide rely in Unica’s solutions to manage the complexities and processes of marketing and facilitate the operations of a customer-centric business.

Founded in 1992, Unica is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, with additional locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, India, and Singapore.Š