Updated 12X: Today, Atlassian and Microsoft introduce the SharePoint Connector for Confluence. The connector bridges the two products so that users can search across both from one place, embed Confluence wiki pages in SharePoint, link to and edit SharePoint content from within Confluence, and access both platforms with one login.

Here are the details:

• Search: Users can search SharePoint and Confluence content together from one place.
• Content sharing: From within SharePoint, users can embed Confluence page contents allowing users to blend content.
• Linking: Within Confluence, users can access SharePoint document facilities. By including SharePoint lists and content within Confluence, users, in a single click, can edit Microsoft Office documents.
• Single Sign-On and Security: With one login, users can access both systems while seeing only what they have permission to view.

You can download the beta here.

Updates:

• Atlassian Blog: Introducing the SharePoint Connector for Confluence
• Atlassian Website
• Atlassian Press Release (via BusinessWire)
• Microsoft Press Release
  “Microsoft’s relationships with Atlassian and NewsGator represent dynamic new opportunities for integrating social computing technology into a company’s business productivity infrastructure.”
• SharePoint Product Group Blog
• Jeffrey Walker: David Kisses Goliath: Confluence Connects to Microsoft SharePoint
  “Today, we release the SharePoint Connector for Confluence which is by far the deepest integration of any wiki with SharePoint, and is a testament to the connectivity of the .Net and Java platforms…We found Microsoft wanting to solve the same problem: remove friction between our technologies. And we found Microsoft easy to work with. Their product managers and engineers and ours even got Accenture on the phone to test out the requirements. Accenture is a partner of both our companies, and a large user of Confluence, so their feedback was important.”
• Mike Cannon-Brookes: On Acting Decisively: Confluence + SharePoint Integration
  “Today we’re making a big announcement and we think we’re in good company.

  Apple did it ten years ago…

  “We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft must lose. We have to embrace a notion that for Apple to win Apple has to do a really good job.” – Steve Jobs

  Novell did it last year…

  “CIOs want to focus on their business, and they want their suppliers to focus on improving operating system interoperability.” – Novell’s Open Letter To The Community

  Sun did it a few months ago…

  “Does it signal a strategic shift inside of Sun? No – we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Running, virtualizing and supporting Windows opens doors.” – Jonathan Schwartz

  We’re partnering with Microsoft and releasing the SharePoint Connector for Confluence.”

• Jon Silvers: A good day for collaboration
  “From my perspective, it’s also nice to have finally made the announcement. Now, hopefully Jonathan, Brendan, Zach, Mike and everyone else working on the product and marketing can get some sleep. ”
• Robert Scoble: Microsoft goes Web 2.0 with Sharepoint
  “Atlassian’s role in this? They are building a Sharepoint connector. Why do that? After all, Sharepoint has its own wiki service? Cause Atlassian’s is better and Microsoft’s customers were asking it to support Atlassian’s.”
• Richard McManus: Microsoft Partners with Atlassian & NewsGator – SharePoint Goes Web 2.0
  “This isn’t just another ‘we promise to work together’ type announcement – there is a new product being released today by Atlassian at http://www.atlassian.com/SharePoint, called the ‘SharePoint Connector for Confluence’. It’s a plugin that will be available for download on Atlassian’s website later today. This plug-in pulls content from SharePoint to Confluence and vice versa.”
• Dennis Howlett: Microsoft does the Atlassian pogo dance
  “Unlike the marketing partnerships we usually see, this one has genuine utility. The ability to connect between Sharepoint and Atlassian’s Confluence is real, providing single sign-on, search, content sharing and linking between the two applications. From Atlassian’s perspective, it provides the company with a market leading brand to which it can hitch its sales wagon.”
• Dan Farber: Atlassian, NewsGator hook into SharePoint
  “In the summer Microsoft approached us. At the same time every large customer was experiencing political friction between the Microsoft document/email-centric users and a growing group of wiki users, in our case Confluence,” said Jeffrey Walker, president of Atlassian. “Users want to search across both. Microsoft knew we were Java-based, but approached us anyway. Once we decided to do it, we found we were pretty like-mined and collaborated with Microsoft engineers.” In part, the solution was driven by shared customers, such as Accenture, Walker added.
• EuroInvestor.co.uk
• ScobleShow: Microsoft partners with Atlassian over Sharepoint Wiki
  “Atlassian builds enterprise wikis and is white hot.”
• eWeek|Darryl K. Taft: Atlassian, Microsoft Make Web 2.0 Connection
• Don Dodge: Atlassian and Newsgator bring Web 2.0 to Sharepoint”
  • It is a great example of how Microsoft works with partners to create great solutions for customers.
  • It shows that Microsoft will do this even when the partner product competes with our own functionality.
  • Microsoft will do it with a company like Atlassian that is “open source” and built in Java. It is all about meeting customer needs.
• Ross Mayfield: Sharepoint wiki was last year’s news
  “I should commend not only Atlassian, but our partner Newsgator for taking the step to integrate with Sharepoint.”
• Jevon MacDonald: Atlassian, NewsGator develop Sharepoint Integration Options
  “Atlassian and Newsgator are two established leaders in the respective markets. Both have significant market access, well tuned sales operations and strong product roadmaps. Atlassian specifically has fantastic developer relations, and have built a very pluggable and easily integrated product.”
• Cori Schlegel: “Big” news today in the Microsoft SharePoint space
  “…single sign-on and cross-platform search can be pretty important in the enterprise world. Plus the ability to embed Confluence (Atlassian’s wiki product) content into SharePoint pages and allowing Confluence users to edit SharePoint content directly are pretty big wins. It could also be pretty innovative for large existing SharePoint customers who are interested in using wikis for collaboration.”
• Computerworld|Heather Havenstein: Microsoft partners add wikis, RSS to SharePoint
  “Atlassian Software Systems Pty. Ltd. and NewsGator Technologies Inc. today unveiled Wiki software and RSS technology, respectively, for Microsoft Corp.’s Office SharePoint Server 2.0. Both firms added SharePoint support for their products under an agreement with Microsoft announced Wednesday at the Web 2.0 Summit here.”
• WebProNews|Robert Scoble: Microsoft Goes Web 2.0
• Yahoo! Finance: Atlassian Integrates Confluence Enterprise Wiki With Microsoft SharePoint
• Techmeme:Microsoft Partners with Atlassian & NewsGator – SharePoint Goes Web 2.0 (Richard MacManus/Read/WriteWeb)