IBM offered to buy Sun at twice the going rate per share.  Sun baulked, supposedly based on wanting more money.  At first blush it sounds like the bonehead move of the year.  But then it doesn’t seem likely price is really the issue.

Sun has nice machines, but they are old school at this point.  Why not just buy a cheap Intel box that runs Linux?  No dealing with Solaris admins or costly hardware additions.

IBM has a good franchise in high-end machines so that seems like a good fit.  IBM has a definite commitment to Java across the company.  Again, a good fit

Overall it would seem this might be a good idea.

Then you start to think about the people at Sun versus the people at IBM: California dreaming vs. Armonk business blue suits.  There is just no way these people could get along.  The Sun people must have been starting protests in the halls as soon as the word got out.