New from Microsoft: Information Bridge Framework, an ambitious metadata-driven application integration model, designed to bring "back-office" applications (via web services) into the context of Office documents (using the Office2003 "smart documents" taskpane facilities). It took me a couple of days just to understand what on earth they were talking about, but this is powerful.

Compare with the Siemens eLVIS project at Groove; the common goal is to bring enterprise applications onto users' desks in the context of everyday work practices, instead of as glass-room information silos.