Sun buying ? for real ?

McNealy today revealed that Sun is planning acquisitions larger than the ones it has done in the past. Coming soon after the rumors about Sun going private, I believe that this new revelation was meant to divert attention from the earlier rumors - a puffin fish act ?. So the buyout news may have something to it - a hostile tech LBO perhaps?

If Sun were to make a large buy now, who would make the best target - Novell (NOVL) would be my pick. In fact, a Sun, Novell, AMD combine can pose a serious threat to Wintel. Any advance towards Novell will likely be met by a similar move by IBM.

Other reasonable possibilities include Sybase (SY), Openwave (OPWV), Dot Hill Systems (HILL).