[kjellsbells]

The acquiring company basically cranks up their fees to the acquired customer base to weed out anyone that a. doesn't have deep pockets and b. has an alternative. The customers they are left with are then stuck with you and you can continue to ratchet up prices while cutting costs for years. of course this requires that the software in use is hard to replace, or in the parlance, has a big moat. if you get it right you can make billions with this strategy. after all, an unhappy customer makes more money than a happy prospect.

conversely, any start-up that can bridge the moat is guaranteed a thrilling ride.

[pas]

the vendor lock-in!

also, very important, if a company that is already a big powerful vendor buys this, then they can use their already existing leverage to ramp up prices. after all all now they can try to - and eventually will - upsell all kinds of shit, they will milk every "synergy" opportunity they can think of, will offer package deals (that look very good on paper, but of course increases the lockedin factor, and hides the real problem of keeping the company on the legacy shit).