 Amazon Inc NASDAQ:AMZN is in talks with several software firms including Slack Technologies Inc NYSE:WORK and Dropbox Inc NASDAQ:DBX in a bid to create an alliance of firms to challenge Microsoft Corps NASDAQ:MSFT grip on the market for work productivity apps. On Thursday, a Business Insider report said while still at an ideas stage, the ecommerce giant is aiming to partner with software makers to offer a bundle of business apps for one price in direct competition with Microsofts 365 product suite which includes the likes of Word, Outlook, Excel and Powerpoint. 