Jon Schwartz just called and said he read my IBM post and he thinks I don’t understand something about how acquisitions work. He says I’ve implied that IBM is buying revenues by acquiring software companies. “Steve,” he says, “I can tell you from experience that when you acquire companies you don’t get any extra revenue from them. If anything, acquisitions actually make your revenue and profits go down.”

So I’m like, “Um, Jon, actually, that’s because when IBM acquires companies they charge money to customers who use the software made by those companies. Whereas you guys acquire companies and pay a huge amount of money for them but then you give away their stuff at no cost. See the difference?”

He’s like, “Wait a minute. Holy shit. Say that again. No wait. Let me get a pen and paper. Shit I gotta call Scott right away. This is huge, man. Thanks! I totally owe you on this one.”