[justincormack]

Maybe buying (uk based) Autonomy is a trial run? We will see with Microsoft and Skype (Estonia). I cant think of any big examples, though there was ICL Fujitsu (uk Japan), Europe does not have a lot of large software companies.

[nikcub]

I doubt it was a trial. HP only have a billion dollars in cash left now, and their stock has tanked to a market cap lower than SAP's.

I think they found out that SAP was too big and too expensive and had no need for HP so went with Autonomy as a second choice