It's hard to see VMWare's strategy on this, but here's my guess:<p>Maybe they've actually got some finance guys looking at their P/E which is in the 70 range. So they're probably using their premium stock price as a good way to pick up some bargains while their core business revenue is slowing down with the rest of the economy (and with tough competition).<p>In my mind, it makes me think that they worry about (or are at least are hedging against) their core market being eroded by other players. If they did believe it was VM/VDI for the long haul, then they'd be investing in technologies with far better synergies than the ones they're picking. I mean "cloud" technologies pretty much applies to anything these days, so it'd be a stretch to say these are really "good fit" acquisitions.<p>I have a feeling this could work out okay for VMWare, though it feels more like a business play than a technology one.