What's it all about, Larry?
Published: 16 Dec 2003 14:05 GMT
An Oracle spokeswoman told ZDNet UK in turn: "We certainly do not believe the deal is 'dead', and from the volume of activity on PeopleSoft's side it doesn't look like they think so either. If the deal goes through, Oracle believes it will lead to greater innovation, increased competition, and greater customer choice in enterprise applications."
All sorts of mud-slinging, poison pills, charges and counter-charges have ensued. And beyond all that the deal faces a formidable set of legal and regulatory challenges resulting from worries over two such large players (effectively numbers two and three in enterprise apps after SAP) combining, from such minor impediments as the US Department of Justice, the Canadian government, the European Union competition agency, and some US states' joint action to derail it.
"On balance it's more likely not to happen," says David Bradshaw, principal analyst at analyst group Ovum. Still, Butler Group's senior research analyst, Andy Kellett, says: "There's still a long way to run."
Reducing choice
All this aside for a second -- what sort of a world would be in if this does complete sometime in 2004? Most observers agree that despite Oracle's protestations, customers would have fewer options in the marketplace. "They're doing this to take a competitor out, which is always about reducing choice," points out Robert Thomson, professional services director at business process management specialist Commerce Quest. "Customers will ask, how can a bigger player help me in my business -- will they be any less inflexible than they were before?"
Again, "less choice" is the verdict from Ovum's Bradshaw, as for Butler's Kellett. "We prefer markets to have plenty of choice and a wide spread of vendors able to deliver variation to customers. On the whole I'd prefer this not to happen," he goes so far as to say.
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