"Documentum has really had a stranglehold on that market," Paul Mattes, director of the life-sciences group at Microsoft, told Dina Bass of Bloomberg News. "Tracking changes and auditing those things is something we haven't been very good at."

But that's all about to change.

This week at the DIA conference in Atlanta, Microsoft will introduce FirstPoint, "software that helps pharmaceutical companies track and organize documents for creating drugs."

And guess who they've partnered with to do that?

First Consulting Group (formerly known as ISCG) which did many, many of Documentum's early installations and implementations in the Pharmaceutical Industry. (It wasn't called Life Sciences then.)

It should be fun to watch.

Documentum (powered by EMC) trying to fight-off the Microsoft giant.

FCG certainly gives Microsoft domain expertise.

And Life Science firms which are traditionally risk- averse when it comes to selecting the technology which helps them push their drugs through the FDA, will now have the option of buying from what is just as, if not more, stable a company.

Oh, to have a crystal ball...

Will the EMC/Sharepoint marriage change?

Will price matter?

" The companies (Microsoft and FCG) plan to offer the software at a lower price than rival products from EMC Corp.'s Documentum." according to Bloomberg

Will FCG still be allowed to sponsor the EMC CMA Conference (the conference formerly known as DUMA)?

Will Microsoft live up to Mattes' statement?

"It's not unusual to spend 10 years on developing a new drug, and we think conservatively we can take 30 percent of the time out of the process."

Predictions?