

Microsoft Should Acquire SAP, Not Yahoo  - muriithi
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/business/24digi.html

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mixmax
Microsoft is definitely in trouble - not in the short term but in the long
term. Their problem is that they are so accustomed to the packaged sales model
that software-as-a-service is very foreign to them. When they try their hand
at it it is half-hearted and not very well designed or executed. And they
think they can buy themselves out of their predicament by buying another
behemoth on a downward slide. They just don't get it...

Instead they should be buying all the startups they can get their hands on -
the money they are willing to pay for Yahoo will go a very long way in the
acquisition of startups.

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snorkel
In the short term yes, Microsoft can win the business market by grabbing SAP.
But in the long term Microsoft knows that the web is the next platform and
eventually Windows and Office are going to be obsolete by the web, and how
long before some well funded web start-up produces a viable alternative to
SAP? This is Microsoft's struggle to stay relevent in a time when Windows is
just another OS that can open a web browser.

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edw519
"some well funded web start-up produces a viable alternative to SAP"

Patience. I'm working on it:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=114568>

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jcromartie
The very suggestion sends shivers down my spine. Seeing SAP and Oracle in
action makes it clear that there are no great hacker minds involved. Microsoft
is still hanging on to some smart people... but the prospect of working with
SAP? I can only imagine that the mere thought would drive them off in droves.

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kingkongrevenge
SAP is an ops research company, not a software company. They sell optimized
business process methods, not high tech. They will candidly tell you so.

~~~
edw519
Exactly. This only thing (still) missing is the marriage of those methods to
good software. Somehow, I don't get a good feeling about this when Microsoft
is added to the mix.

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misterbwong
It seems as if the author is looking at the attempted Yahoo! acquisition as a
pure business/user play. BG said it himself-it's the engineers he's after, not
the market share.

