Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2: Will OCS Become a PBX?

Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division says that many companies have already bypassed buying an IP PBX box:
"...by using software to do the job that hardware did in the past -- only do it better"
http://rcpmag.com/news/article.aspx?editorialsid=10315

Here is a video of Elop's comments:
http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/Features/2008/oct08/10-14OCSR2video.mspx

Here is a non-Microsoft take on the new features in OCS 2007 R2
http://www.ocspedia.com/Misc/OCS_2007_R2_Press_Release.htm

Here another blogger says some companies already use OCS as a PBX and has a checklist o see if you company is a fit for an OCS only implementation:
http://blog.enablingtechcorp.com/blog/2008/9/9/ocs-as-pbx.html

This article claims the release after R2 will be the "PBX replacer" version.
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/entdev/article.php/3785946/Microsoft+OCS:+The+next+step.htm

This article claims that OCS R3 will be the "replacer" edition: (see paragraph 7)
http://www.cio.com.au/article/271576/unified_communications_war_will_heat_up_2009

My opinion? I think Microsoft's OCS product sure appears to be moving in that direction. Each release has more and more PBX features. With R2 they now have a quite sophisticated operator panel. (perhaps too complicated for the SMB?) They have native OCS phone handsets (http://products.nortel.com/go/product_content.jsp?segId=0&parId=0&prod_id=64241) and SNOM has released an OCS firmware for their very popular SNOM 3XX series to work with OCS.

I think OCS currently does not fit the majority of SMB organizations but it is interesting to watch this unfold.

keywords: is ocs a pbx? ocs pbx? is OCS a pbx replacer?