There's an interesting commentary about the acquisition by James Fee. <a href="http://spatiallyadjusted.com/2012/07/10/esri-eliminates-geoiq/" rel="nofollow">http://spatiallyadjusted.com/2012/07/10/esri-eliminates-geoi...</a> He argues that, "...there is one company in that (geospatial govt contractor) space and it is Esri. Either you work with them or you don’t work at all."