billybob_jcv

Death of the Independent Software Firm?

Perhaps.

It's up to the independent software companies - if they continue to believe that we will happily pay huge annual support fees without seeing the value in having them as partners, then they are dead wrong. I no longer have the capital or annual G&A to simply buy the "best" of everything - I need to buy the highest *value* solutions, and that value is composed of functionality, support, cost, strategic fit, etc. Willingness to partner with me to satisfy my overall business requirements at the lowest TCO is what keeps me as a customer. In my humble opinion, many stand alone software companies are depending on me to buy them simply because they are "specialists" and they think I'm willing to pay a premium for them without really being able to demonstrate how they fit into my holistic IT strategy. They are wrong...

MySQL and BEA: Wednesday’s Two Big Acquisitions

You don't think Oracle is already into Services? What about Oracle Consulting? Every acquisition has not only added a codebase and development team, but also a professional services team.