Task 11

Since the onset of the so called “refugee crisis” leading politicians in Germany, and particularly chancellor Angela Merkel, have strongly advocated a welcoming policy. Growing dissatisfaction in parts of the population with this immigration policy has inspired the formation of PEGIDA and the AFD some of whose members have articulated xenophobic views. The openly expressed nationalistic beliefs have ab initio estranged politicians from other parties. However, given Germany’s history and the public distaste for such extreme remarks, politicians and the media quickly dismissed their chances of surviving as political forces. They portrayed PEGIDA and the AFD inferior, their positions as inhuman, and most of all unpopular. Yet, as demonstrated by the recent Landtag elections, the AFD is well on the way on becoming one of the major parties. This development makes it abundantly clear that the AFD and organizations like PEGIDA cannot merely be ignored into non-existence but instead have to be taken seriously.

Problem - Solution Paragraph

The "Tagesschau" Controversy

 

For a long time since the 1950s, information media in the Western sphere have largely been defined by a competitive relationship between the television industry, radio broadcasting, and the press. This triadic constellation has been rendered more complicated in the context of the 1990s’ digital revolution, due to a novel determining factor that emerged in the field: computer technologies and internet services quickly entered the media landscape, engendering fundamental changes in the market that would fully develop within the next decade, and consequently force traditional media to adapt. Thus, with the rise of internet services and an increased interest in digital content, television stations and press companies in the 21^st century have been struggling to meet the shifting demands of the media market, creating new offerings for their customers that might correspond to the changing usage patterns and consumer needs. In 2010, the German public broadcasting station ARD made an effort to take up the challenge, introducing a mobile application that would provide videos and other material related to the channel’s popular news programme “Tagesschau”. This endeavor, however, was met with controversy, as several publishing houses and press companies claimed that the online application would amount to a distortion of competition in the field of media production, enabling the TV channel to delve into heretofore unauthorized domains of journalistic practice. As a result of the legal dispute between the conflicting parties, the state court of Köln has recently set out rules for the organization of online services by public broadcasters, demanding that their respective offerings must show a relatedness to the televised programmes and avoid resemblance to classical print media. The mentioned example shows how in Germany, the challenge of digitization has been met by a prominent public TV channel, raising questions as to the difficulties that arise as traditional media have to renegotiate their responsibilities in a digital age.

Academic paragraph

Germany has had to face an enormous increase of the right extremist political scene for a few years. Right parties as the NPD (Nationaldemocratic Party Germany) have been popular for a long time, especially in poor regions in Eastern Germany. However, a new party called AfD (Alternative for Germany) has entered the scene in 2013 and set the goal to fight against the European Union and the Refugees who came to Germany within the last two years. They fear an islamisation of the society and an increase of terrorism. The party, run by the politician Frauke Petry, is popular all around the country and elected by the working as well as the upper class. The established parties try to understand why the AfD gains so much attention and attempts to win the voters over to the right populist party. One way to convince the voters is better education and information about general politics and a better understanding of the German past. Besides, the establishment should make clear arguments and lead intelligible campaigns so that the people are not afraid of being left-behind and forgotten anymore.  

Exercise 11

Exercise 11

Despite the fact that Germany is one of the richest countries in the world, many German people are sick: “Burnout” is an epidemic problem in Germany. Many workers suffer from debilitating stress. Reason for this, among others, is that Germans work more hours a year than people in any other member nation. A 35-hour workweek is standard in Germany´s manufacturing sector. Experts see Germany´s culture of hard work as a culprit behind burnout. A survey form Gallup, the polling organization, found that as many as 4.1 million of the 40 million German workers have experienced mental or emotional distress. The car maker Volkswagen blocks emails after office hours and releases them to workers´ inboxes the next workday, to support the work-life balance of the employee. Another company called Daimler has a social counselling office for time of personal crisis. Although minor effects can be seen, there is still a long way to go to reduce the appearance of burnout in German society.

Solar power Production in Ukraine

After Crimea annexation by Russia in 2014 the economic relations between Russia and Ukraine were partially disordered. The problem that Ukrainian politicians encountered is price increase on earth oil and natural gas.  As a consequence, many Ukrainian households start searching for an altenative source of energy. The statistics for 2016 show that Ukraine boosts solar power production fivefold. According to statistic data, during the last 12 months, the number of solar stations in Ukrainian households reached 625. Such huge interest is caused by the opportunity to consume less energy as well as by the chance to sell the extra energy for 19.01 euro cents per 1 kilowatt-hour.  Such tendency looks encouraging both for ukrainian citizens and government.

Task 11

 Known as one the poorest countries in the EU, Romania's manifold of well-educated STEM talent, combined with low wages and cheap operating costs, has made it an attractive place for international companies looking to expand. Its capital city of Bucharest, it is also fast turning into a center for home-grown tech startups--particularly those looking to do so cheaply. The once small scene has been bubbling up over the past five years and now has about 170 startups. There are still many obstacles for Bucharest to overcome, such as worker's retention and access to investment capital, before it can begin to coax international tech talents. But with startup investor confidence in London shaken by the UK's recent decision to leave the EU, and other startup cities such as Berlin, Barcelona, and Amsterdam experiencing rising costs of living, the future is looking bright for Bucharest. 

Task 11 Smog in China

The thick hazardous smog which routinely blankets the streets in Beijing has been brought to discussion over and over again. Research shows that some particles of the smog in China are nano particles which can enter the pulmonary alveoli, blood and nerve system, causing long-term synthetical harm to human body. Besides, there are various constituents in the smog produced not only by industrial emission and vehicle exhaust, but also by the secondary chemical reactions from the pollutant. In order to improve the air quality, the government has put forward ten measures including reducing the pollution sources, speeding up the technological upgrading of the factories, shutting down high pollution factories, etc. Although minor effects can be seen, there is still a long way to go.

Exercise 11

Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe with the area of 603.700 km². However, despite being almost twice as big as Germany, which has an area of 357.000 km², it has only half of its population – 45 million. Some of the reasons for such a low number are economic instability and unemployment. The issue can be solved by creating more jobs especially in rural areas. If people had a financial security in terms of a stable income, they would consider having more children. Consequently, the increase in population could also lead to the improvement of economic situation of the country.

Task 11. Loss of job for the young generation.

Among the several problems that affect Italy nowadays , a great one is the loss of job for the young generations. This situation leads to an impressive migration of brilliant minds outside the country. Looking for workers with many years experience, the great majority of italian companies give no possibility to young people to collect some of them.  One of the numerous solutions could be providing the students the access to some promising intership in their field of study.

Homework Task 8), 9) and 10)

Task 8)
1) caused
2) redone
3) provide
4) obtained, taken
5) encountered

Task 9)
1) considerable
2) obtained
3) numerous / encouraging
4) consequences
5) slightly, moderately / to some extent
6) extremely good / promising
7) debatable
8) to unite / congregate

Task 10
1) If the exam is not passed, it is not possible to enter the university.
2) We now need to consider the causes of deformation. Many possibilities exist.
3) The differences between these two processes can be seen clearly.
4) The difference between these two processes can be easily observed.
5) These special tax laws have been enacted in six state: Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, Arizona and California.
6) The subjects have not experienced difficulties with the task.

Tasks 8-10.

Task Eight

1. The implementation of computer-integrated-manufacturing (CIM) has caused some serious problems.

2. The process should be executed/redone until the desired results are achieved

3. Plans are being made to create a database containing detailed environmental information for the region.

4. Subtle changes in the earth’s crust were detected by these new devices.

5. Proposals to construct new nuclear reactor have faced great resistance from environmentalists.

Task Nine

1. The government has made considerable progress in solving environmental problems.

2. We obtained encouraging results.

3. The results of numerous different projects have been encouraging.

4. A loss of jobs is one of the consequences if the process is automated.

5. The reaction of the officials was somewhat negative.  

6. The economic outlook is impressive.

7. The future of Federal funding is not yet decided.

8. America’s major automakers are planning to meet /gather on the research needed for more fuel efficient cars.

Task Ten

1. If you fail the exam, you can enter no university.

2. There exist many causes of deformation.  

3. The difference between these two processes can be clearly seen.

4. A small bit/ amount of ammonium dichromate is gradually added to the gelatin solution.

5. These special tax laws have been enacted in six states: Illinois, Iowa, Ohio among others.

   

Tasks 8, 9 and 10

Task 8

1. Caused
2. Repeated
3. Provide
4. Collected
5. encountered

Task 9

1. Considerable
2. Obtained
3. numerous ; encouraging
4. Consequences
5. Rather
6. Promising
7. Uncertain
8. Gather around

Task 10

1. There is no university entrance if the exam is going to be a failed one.
2. Many possibilities exist for the causes of deformation, such as ..
3. The difference between these two processes can be easily observed.
4. Gradually, a small amount of ammonium dichromate is added to the gelatin solution.
5. These special taxes have been approved in six states: Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, California, Nevada and Arizona
6. The subjects have not experienced difficulties with the task.

Task 8-10

Task 8

1) caused
2) redone
3) create / form
4) collected
5) confronted


Task 9

1) considerable
2) obtained
3) numerous; encouraging
4) consequences 

5) moderately / rather
6) extremely good / promising
7) outstanding / a pending issue
8) congregate


Task 10

1) Should you fail the exam you won't be able to enter the university. 

2) Many possibilities exist for the causes of deformation. / We now need to consider the causes of deformation. Many possibilities exist.

3) The differences between these two processes can be seen clearly.

4) A small amount of ammonium dichromate is gradually added to the gelatin solution.

5) These special tax laws have been enacted in six states, including Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio.

6) The subjects barely had difficulty with the task.(informal)
 The task didn't prove much difficulty for the subjects.

Home assignment

Task 8
1) generated ( produced, caused)
2) redone ( remade)
3) compose ( create, produce)
4) collected ( detected)
5) encountered

Task 9
1) considerable
2) obtained
3) numerous encouraging
4) consecuences

5) to some extent / moderetely
6) significantly good, (extremely)
7) debatable, questionable 
8) to unite/ to co-operate

Task 10
1) If the exam is failed, it is impossible to enter the university.
2) Many possibilities defining causes of deformation exist. 
3)The difference between these two processes is clearly seen.
4) These special text laws have been enacted in Illinois, Iowa, Ohio and other three states.
5) The subjects had little difficulty with the task. 

Article Analysis

Trump Victory: Russians Relieved About Republican Win Over Clinton

Description of a situation
MOSCOW — He may have called for "bombing the hell out of ISIS" and refused to rule out dropping a nuclear bomb on Europe, but many Russians have come to see President-elect Donald Trump as their best hope for peace. According to this world view, which is reinforced by state-controlled television, America is seen as an aggressor that uses its military and soft power to promote regime change across the globe. - 
Identification of a problem 
Hillary Clinton was portrayed as a dangerous candidate who favored foreign interventions in the name of democracy while Trump was described as a bulwark against a possible war with the United States.  Alexei Kolin Alexey Gordienko / NBC News "I hope it will be less [of a chance of war], because bad things are happening in the Russian Army," said Alexei Kolin, 21, who was recently discharged from the army. "The new draftees … are told that Americans are evil and taught to kill," he told NBC News. "I think if [Trump] won, the chance of war will be less — it's very big now." Related: Analysis: Trump Inherits an Increasingly Divided World This is a view expressed frequently by commentators on Russian television channels, including Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant lawmaker and a nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin.
Description of a solution
 As Americans cast their ballots on Tuesday, Zhirinovsky portrayed Trump as the only person able to deescalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington. "Trump wants peace, he doesn't want war and couldn't care less about Ukraine or Syria" Zhirinovsky said on Russia's state-owned channel Rossiya-24.  Others said they hoped that the U.S. and Russia could steady a relationship that has hit a rough patch. "Two countries such as Russia and America have to be friends regardless of anything," said Sergei, a 45-year-old unemployed resident of Moscow. He refused to give his last name to an American media outlet. Others, like 26-year-old cook Artyom Telegin, remained skeptical. The U.S. will "continue the policies they have, and I think isolating Russia is a priority for America," he said. Russia's relations with America have reached the lowest point since the Soviet era after Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea peninsula in 2014 and the involvement in the Donbass conflict in eastern Ukraine. Moscow endorsed the pro-Russian rebels and allegedly sent troops to their aid — a charge the Kremlin denies. The White House has imposed sanctions on Russian officials and industries, and accused the government of hacking various U.S. targets during the election campaign. Trump, in contrast, has talked about recognizing Crimea's annexation and praised Putin for his high approval ratings, which remain above 80 percent. 
Evaluation of a solution
The Russian leadership appeared mostly heartened by Clinton's defeat. The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, greeted the news of Trump's victory with an ovation. Putin said Wednesday he hoped Trump's win would allow to "bring relations back on a sustainable track." "We understand it's a hard road, but we're ready to walk our part of it," he said in televised remarks.

Task 8.

1) caused
2) redone
3) provide
4) obtained, taken
5) encountered

Task 9.

1) considerable
2) obtained
3) numerous / encouraging
4) consequences

5) slightly, moderately
6) extremely good
7) doubtful
8) congregate

Task 10.

1) If the exam is not passed, it is not possible to enter the university.
2) We should now ask to ourselves which are the causes of deformation, considering that there are many possibilities.
3)   Considerable differences between these two processes can be seen.
4) A small bit of ammonium dichromate is gradually added to the gelatin solution.
5) These special tax laws have been enacted in six state: Illinois, Iowa, Ohio and other american states.
6)  The subjects have little difficulty with the task.

Gene´s Response

Ilka Groenewold (6444508)

Aaron Gowen

Course 53.627 Composition I and II for Linguistics

In conclusion, this paper was written in order to examine health care costs of both non-profit and for-profit organizations in the United States. As the tables show, in non-profit hospitals the impact of health care costs was relatively minor, whereas in other contexts the cost increase registered was considerable. As a matter of fact, in the latter case the reduced co-payments apparently gave rise to a remarkable number of tests ordered by physicians. Still, the above findings should be considered somewhat provisional at this stage. This is because the patients of the two different types of organization have not been differentiated nor categorized by variables such as patient income, age and level of satisfaction with the health-care provider.

Description of a situation, Identification of a problem, Description of a solution, Evaluation of the solution

Description of a situation

Identification of a problem

Description of a solution

Evaluation of the solution

How LinkedIn Drove a Wedge
Between Microsoft and Salesforce

Once so close they flirted with a merger, the software giants became archrivals
when they realized the value of the data amassed by social networks.

—> Description of a situation (starts here)

This is a story of love lost after a fight over social media.

Today, Microsoft and Salesforce are archrivals that recently battled each other to buy the social network LinkedIn — hungry for its troves of highly personalized data about businesspeople. When Microsoft won, Salesforce threw cold water on the acquisition by saying it would violate European antimonopoly laws.

But not long ago, the two software giants were tight. They even talked about merging their businesses — not once, but twice. The second round of talks hasn’t previously been reported.

A behind-the-scenes look at the fight between Salesforce, which upended business software by pioneering a rent-by-the-month model, and Microsoft, which is racing to adjust, exposes an awakening in corporate America about the value of social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter. The data stashed in their servers has elevated services like these from an amusing distraction to an essential tool that helps big businesses understand their customers.

But now that tech giants like Microsoft and Salesforce covet that data, they are finding that only a few companies have it. That’s partly why Salesforce considered bidding recently for Twitter, despite its growth struggles. Microsoft was so eager to have LinkedIn that it agreed to pay $26.2 billion in cash for it, the biggest deal in its history. Salesforce fired back, complaining that Microsoft could use LinkedIn data to increase its control of the business software market.

—> Description of a situation


ADVERTISEMENT

-> Identification of a problem (starts here)

At first, Microsoft and Salesforce put past grievances behind them — the two had squabbled over patents, employee poaching and more — and agreed to make their products work better with each other. Their relationship warmed up when they began to talk about a merger, but then quickly got frosty when they couldn’t agree on a price.

There are big personalities behind the battle. At Microsoft, the job of adjusting course has fallen to Satya Nadella, a poetry-quoting chief executive who is trying to aggressively remake the company in hot areas like the cloud business applications where Salesforce is a leader.

“Microsoft decided it could go ahead and recreate the best parts of Salesforce,” said Venky Ganesan, a managing director at Menlo Ventures who has spoken with Mr. Nadella and other business-development executives at Microsoft.

Marc Benioff, a founder and the chief executive of Salesforce, is considered a self-assured visionary. But he had doubts about staying independent around the time he understood that Microsoft was getting serious about competing with his company.

A Budding Friendship

Salesforce was founded in 1999 to bring about “the end of software as we know it,” as Mr. Benioff liked to say. The slogan appealed to Mr. Benioff, a former Oracle executive who alternates between the brashness of a Silicon Valley tycoon and the mellowness of a Hawaiian surfer. (He has a sprawling compound in Hawaii and frequently signs off emails with “Aloha.”)

At the time, software used by businesses was usually sold through huge licensing deals for software that would be installed directly on company PCs. Mr. Benioff’s idea was to undercut that model: He would offer the same thing over the internet, without expensive installations, and customers would pay by the month.

The idea proved prescient. Though it only recently began turning a profit, Salesforce is on track to have more than $8 billion in revenue this year, representing annual growth of about 25 percent. The total market value of the company is over $50 billion. Salesforce is the largest tech employer in San Francisco, and the company will move into the city’s tallest building, Salesforce Tower, when it is completed.

Salesforce’s main products are for customer relationship management, or C.R.M., unglamorous tools that are nevertheless critical for helping businesses where it counts: by managing sales leads and client interactions that bring in revenue. Sales in the C.R.M. market totaled $26.3 billion last year, and Salesforce was in the No. 1 spot, with just under 20 percent, according to Gartner, a research firm. Microsoft was in fourth place, also behind Oracle and SAP, with just 4.3 percent.

It took Microsoft years to see the potential in what Salesforce was doing. Microsoft had its own C.R.M. product, Dynamics, but it took a back seat inside an empire that, under the former chief executive Steven A. Ballmer, was consumed with battling more prominent competitors like Apple, Google and Sony.

Mr. Nadella, a longtime Microsoft executive whose career odyssey at the company included overseeing its C.R.M. product, was less combative than his predecessor. He began reaching out to leaders of many rival companies after he became chief executive in early 2014, with a special goal of improving Microsoft’s standing in Silicon Valley.

John W. Thompson, a longtime Silicon Valley executive who had recently become chairman of Microsoft’s board, arranged a dinner at the Rosewood hotel in Menlo Park, Calif., for Mr. Nadella to meet other tech executives, including Mr. Benioff, the Salesforce chief said in a 2015 interview. “At the end of dinner, I really gave Satya a number of areas I thought we could work closely on,” Mr. Benioff said in the interview. “He took me up on all of them.”

Mr. Nadella and Mr. Benioff declined to be interviewed for this article.

A few months later, the two men had negotiated an agreement to make Microsoft’s Office 365 suite of applications work better with Salesforce’s online services, which they said business customers were clamoring for. They promised more collaborations to come. They began tweeting at each other like old friends.

At one point, Mr. Benioff offered to buy the Dynamics business that Salesforce competed with, but Mr. Nadella turned him down, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

The two companies stayed close and by the spring of 2015 their conversations evolved into another deal: Microsoft would acquire Salesforce. In May 2015, CNBC reported that the talks had fallen apart because Salesforce was demanding around $70 billion, about $22 billion more than the company’s market value at the time.

Several people briefed on the talks said that account was accurate, though two of them said another factor was that Mr. Benioff thought Microsoft was not respectful enough of his accomplishments in building Salesforce. It was unclear whether Mr. Benioff would be happy in a subordinate role at Microsoft after building Salesforce from the ground up, and it was equally hard to imagine a successful Salesforce without him.

Quickly, there were signs that Microsoft planned to get its act together in the C.R.M. business. As part of a broader shake-up, Mr. Nadella moved Dynamics under Scott Guthrie, one of Microsoft’s most respected engineering leaders. This telegraphed that it intended to go after Salesforce’s business.

“They’re serious in a way they haven’t been before,” said Charles Fitzgerald, an angel investor in Seattle and a former Microsoft manager who occasionally consults with the company.

Competition Heats Up

Salesforce did not sit idle. In November, it hired a former head of Dynamics, Bob Stutz, to oversee its data analytics products.

Still, Microsoft and Salesforce had reasons to keep the peace. Mr. Nadella wanted Salesforce to use Microsoft’s cloud computing infrastructure, called Azure, to run its internet applications. A marquee customer like Salesforce could lend credibility to Azure as Microsoft tried to catch Amazon, the top cloud infrastructure provider.

In September 2015, Mr. Nadella spoke at Dreamforce — Salesforce’s annual tech jamboree in San Francisco — where Mr. Benioff positively gushed over him in his introduction. “Satya and I have become good friends over the past couple of years,” he said. “He is an incredible person, an incredible visionary, an incredible leader of an incredible company.”

In the months after, Mr. Benioff met privately with Mr. Nadella to talk business. Mr. Benioff discussed using Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality headset in a Salesforce presentation; that never panned out. And he again brought up the idea of Microsoft’s acquiring Salesforce, according to several people briefed on the talks.

Microsoft seemed less receptive to the idea than before, partly because of Salesforce’s price tag and also because Microsoft had decided to compete more aggressively with its own product, these people said. By last February, the discussions were dead, they said.

The conversations became contentious enough to place a strain on the longtime friendship between Mr. Benioff and Mr. Thompson, according to two people with knowledge of the relationship. The two men did not speak for months (although things have since thawed). That’s around the time Mr. Benioff seemed to recognize the seriousness of the threat posed by Microsoft — a well-capitalized competitor, many times the size of Salesforce — according to people who discussed the issue with him.

-> Identification of a problem

-> Description of a solution (starts here)

The most alluring acquisition target for both companies, though, was LinkedIn.

The business social networking site has become an indispensable tool for people to advertise their employment histories and professional achievements. LinkedIn’s enormous database of profiles could be coupled more tightly with C.R.M. systems to help sales representatives close deals, both companies believed. LinkedIn’s data could also be used to strengthen Microsoft products such as Office, one of Microsoft’s most lucrative products. And LinkedIn comes with a steady revenue stream.

On Feb. 16, Mr. Nadella met with Jeff Weiner, the chief executive of LinkedIn, to talk about existing business relationships between the companies, but the conversation eventually veered toward a Microsoft acquisition of LinkedIn, according to a LinkedIn filing with securities regulators. Mr. Benioff raised the possibility of a Salesforce acquisition of LinkedIn with Mr. Weiner almost a month later.

For the next several months, Microsoft and Salesforce privately made competing offers for LinkedIn, each sweetening their bids as the competition increased. Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder and a board member, wooed Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn founder and chairman, according to the LinkedIn filing. Salesforce code-named its LinkedIn effort Project Burgundy.

In mid-June, Microsoft won LinkedIn with a bid of $196 a share, all of it in cash, which provided more certainty for LinkedIn shareholders than the combination of cash and stock that Salesforce was offering. Microsoft has more than $136 billion in cash and short-term investments. Salesforce has less than $1.2 billion.

After LinkedIn filed the details of its acquisition process with regulators, Mr. Benioff sent an email to the Salesforce board commenting on how the company had nearly beat Microsoft. The message was one of many published by the website DCLeaks.com from the hacked email account of Colin Powell, the former United States secretary of state and a Salesforce board member.

“We were closer than we realized — maybe a $105 cash plus $105 stock would have done it!” Mr. Benioff wrote. “But we were definitely over our skis!!!!”

As the prospect of a LinkedIn deal began to dim for Salesforce, the company’s chief legal officer, Burke Norton, sent an email to the board saying the company, as result, could contemplate a number of other acquisition targets, one of which — Demandware — it ended up buying. Other possibilities, including Adobe, Box, Tableau and Workday, remain independent, according to a presentation attached to the email, which was published on DCLeaks.com.

Mr. Benioff has bought at least 10 companies in all. His most expensive purchase, at $2.8 billion, was Demandware, which helps companies run their online shopping sites. One big acquisition, the document software company Quip, took direct aim at Microsoft Office, one of Microsoft’s cash cows.

Deal vs. Deal

-> Description of a solution

—————- Evaluation of the solution (starts here)

There is, of course, no guarantee that LinkedIn will give Microsoft the edge it seeks in data analytics, machine learning and C.R.M. software. The company has a history of fumbling big acquisitions, including its disastrous acquisition of Nokia, which ended in a $7.6 billion write-off, after which Microsoft backed away from mobile phones.

While Salesforce’s acquisitions and war chest are relatively small, the company highlighted in a presentation to analysts this fall that it had acquired Quip in part to land its co-founder, Bret Taylor, a former Facebook and Google executive. Analysts view Mr. Taylor as someone who can weave Salesforce’s pieces into a more competitive company.

In the meantime, Mr. Benioff cut a deal in May to use primarily Amazon’s cloud computing services, not Microsoft’s. The deal was worth $400 million over four years for Amazon.

Microsoft wooed away a big Salesforce customer, HP, in September to use Dynamics.

Salesforce began grumbling to regulators in Europe about the LinkedIn deal last month, raising concerns that the agreement would hinder access to LinkedIn’s data for other companies and give Microsoft an unfair advantage. Mr. Benioff even blasted the deal on Twitter.

“Given Microsoft’s history and existing monopolies, it is sometimes necessary for antitrust enforcement agencies to intervene to ensure that Microsoft is operating in a manner that promotes competition, rather than stifles it,” said Mr. Norton, Salesforce’s chief legal officer.

It’s not clear if the complaints will be a problem for the deal, which has already been approved in the United States.

In response to Salesforce’s complaints, Microsoft has said it will bring more price competition to the market. But neither company is totally estranged from its rival, and they say they must work together. In a statement, Peggy Johnson, an executive vice president at Microsoft, said that “while we’ll continue to compete, we look forward to continuing to partner.”

-> Evaluation of the solution

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/technology/how-linkedin-drove-a-wedge-between-microsoft-and-salesforce.html?ref=technology#story-continues-2