Best allies with accountants and Peachtree customers in battle against Microsoft: declares small business apps market a three-horse race.

Accounting Today, October, 2002 by John M. Covaleski

BOSTON -- Best Software plans to embrace the accounting community and the approximately 1.35 million small businesses using its Peachtree low-end accounting applications in its battle with Microsoft Business Solutions for supremacy in the small to midsize business software applications market.

Best officials unveiled the strategy during a press briefing here where they declared that the SMB market has come down to a three-horse race consisting of the horizontally-focused vendors that have been most active in making acquisitions in recent years. They are Microsoft, serving the middle market; Intuit, serving low-end businesses; and Best, serving both the middle and low-end.

"There really are just three players left as we see it," said Best chief executive Ron...