Why should Oracle want to build something like IBM - which is synonymous with Legacy - the opposite of Oracle/ SUN?
Looking closely at Oracle's previous acquisitions, I think Larry is not after building an Empire; Oracle is a technology driven company - and every acquisition brought them new technology / complemented the Oracle DB platform.
HP does not have any new great technology that Oracle/ Sun does not have with the exception of smart phones. HP has its feet wet / dirty in the mobile/ smart phone business with Slate and Palm. This could be of interest; but this is really a small piece of HP. Why should anybody want to swallow all of HP just for this piece? This does not make sense.
Still there are few reasons why Oracle would be interested in HP.
1) There was this HP-UX/Oracle thing in the past. But I wonder how much of that matters now.
2) Then there is this really good Printers business of HP for anybody wants to build an empire.
3) HP now has a big services business after its acquisition of EDS + Mphasis. That can add lot of head count if Larry wants to feel good as an emperor! Then again, that wing of HP is married to Mr. Gates or, so it appears at this point of time.
The other acquisitions that make / do not make sense are:
1) Acquiring Dell helps if they want to do the desktop business. Even then, they need to acquire a Desktop OS company or push Linux aggressively. It is hard to visualize Larry selling Windows with his PCs!
2) If Oracle wants to play the mobile game, they would rather target somebody like Motorola.
3) What really makes sense for Oracle is to target other enterprise applications that help sell them more Oracle DB licenses. JDA/ i2 is the first thing comes to my mind. Now Oracle has ERP and CRM and Supply Chain makes good sense. Lately BPM is gaining prominence. So, targeting something like Pega makes even more sense.
IMHO, the focus at Oracle should be to push hard UNIX as a dominant server OS. That is where the critical success lies for them; Microsoft sells so much because everybody is using their OS.
Empires are meant to be defeated. Ideas are what makes real difference in peoples lives and they live.....longer.
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