Microsoft To Buy SAP?

Are you kidding me?

From ZDNet:

SAP Chief Executive Henning Kagermann said on Tuesday he has had no discussions with Microsoft about selling the German software company.

Kagermann was responding to a question at a news conference in Boston. Shares of SAP had risen in European trade on Monday on speculation that Microsoft might make a bid for the company. Officials of both companies had declined to comment that day.

This is getting a bit ridiculous...can you imagine the integration nightmares? What would happen to Microsoft's other four ERP suites? And what would this beast be called -- MicroSAP? SAProsoft?

And what of poor Larry Ellison, who would be left without an archrival? Google would then have to buy Oracle, if only to preserve the symmetry and balance of power among the tech heavyweights.

All humorous musings aside, 2008 is likely to be a big year for M&A in business tech, with what Deloitte's John Hagel and Eric Openshaw call 'predator' and 'prey' behavior.

It's just like Wild Discovery, and every bit as interesting to watch, except that it's your process and tech support that are the things getting mauled and eaten...