I have been a vocal critic of Microsoft lately, especially around its bid for SAP. Well today I came across some internal Microsoft documents, made public via the Oracle trial, that outlines what the boys in Redmond were thinking when they were selling this idea internally. This presentation outlines their strategic reasons for completing the deal, and while some of the document is omitted for corporate strategy reasons, there is one HUGE item missing from this analysis that I am sure the government didn't omit:
Would CUSTOMERS want a combined SAP / Microsoft?? - If you read through the document it isn't hard to read between the lines in terms of what Microsoft is after, and that is customer lock-in. By buying the dominant ERP vendor with a huge installed base, Microsoft would attempt to build hooks between SAP software and Microsoft products like Office. Given Microsoft's recent difficulties in delivering products that are on-time and secure, I don't believe companies would simply buy all this software from Microsoft and lock themselves into the Microsoft platform any more than they have to. My guess is that a combined SAP / Microsoft would have driven the adoption of linux and other technologies simply to ensure there is a balance in the marketplace.
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