“Could Microsoft acquire an open source software vendor? Yes, is
the answer, according to Steve Ballmer’s comments from the Web 2.0
Summit. However, I think there’s some reading between the lines to
be done here. Microsoft could certainly buy an open source user,
but at this stage an open source software vendor might be a step
too far…“‘We will buy smaller companies. We will buy smaller companies
that make some use of open source software,’ he said. ‘We don’t
want to discourage people who would talk with us just because they
do some open source…'”