Date:         Sun, 13 Feb 2000 16:36:20 +1100
Reply-To:     Tim Churches <tchur@BIGPOND.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Tim Churches <tchur@BIGPOND.COM>
Subject:      Re: Possible Acquisitions for SAS
Comments: To: Xlr82sas <xlr82sas@AOL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Xlr82sas wrote:
>
> February 08, 2000) SAS Institute today named Andre Boisvert as vice president
> of business development and strategic investments. Boisvert brings nearly 25
> years of software industry experience to the newly created position in an
> effort to centralize the company's investment strategies as they pertain to
> complementary technologies and bolster its approach to investments and
> acquisitions.
>
> If MS is broken up and SAS IPOs it might have enough capital to acquire (some
> or all):
>
> 1. Sybase / SQL Server 7 / MS-Access/MS-EXCEL/MS-VB
> 2. Arcinfo/Mappoint/fogot the other player
> 3. SPSS(Answer Tree), S+
> 4. Seagate Crystal Reports
> 5. Group1 and 'Group1 for Unix/NT'/Mailers-4
> 6. Syncsort
> 7. Adobe
> 8. Sybase Data Architect and Process Analyst
> 9. S+
> 10. Minitab
> 11 Statistica
> 12. Cognos/Redbrick

Yeah, that would be great: then everyone could pay many times what they
pay for these products now, and annually as well...

Seriously, as the world has seen with Microsoft (and others), it is not
good for consumers if large software companies gobble up their smaller
competitors. You'll pay less for SAS if most of the companies you list
remain competitors to SAS. SI has never shown much interest in
incorporating technology which wasn't invented in Cary, NC into its
products anyway, so any acquisitions would probably remain as separate
products or be killed off rather than have their best features
incorporated into SAS. In any case, the SAS development cycle is so
leisurely that it would probably be cheaper for SI to just redevelop the
technology present in other products from scratch than to buy and
incorporate it. Buying technology is only valuable if you in a hurry to
get somewhere. SI feels that it has already arrived, I suspect.

Tim Churches