Microsoft Should Acquire SAP, Not Yahoo

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...<p>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.

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.

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.

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.