To the degree that a rising tide lifts all boats, an expanding OLAP market may actually help other vendors and indirectly help users too. Microsoft will consume a large portion of the market, but not 100 percent. But other vendors will find supporting roles Microsoft is not yet gobbling up. Yet others will try to compete based on features and innovations. Over time, this will raise the overall level of capabilities as Microsoft and other vendors match and leapfrog features.
Pricing is another critical factor.
Most OLAP servers are not cheap. Whether Microsoft bundles its OLAP Server into BackOffice at no extra charge or sells it as a separate product, it will most likely drive down the average price of OLAP servers and clients. While Excel has long been an OLAP client, Microsoft will begin heavily promoting Excel as its OLAP client. As users gain one more reason to stay in Excel, it becomes harder for other vendors to wrestle them away. Microsoft can easily ride out a price war.