An analyst asked Liddell during the company's first-quarter conference call this afternoon whether he sees a chance to accelerate the pace of acquisitions -- not "specifically around the Yahoo situation, but more generally with respect to enterprise software?"

Liddell's response:

"Clearly the benefit this environment has to us, if there is one, is in lower asset prices and we continue to be a net acquirer of businesses. Last year, as you know, we bought around 24, so two a month. And we will continue to buy, in particular, small or medium-sized businesses, which are our real sweet spot.

"I see our real constraint as not being capital, but simply our ability to integrate. I don't see us necessarily increasing the volume of acquisitions. A lot of people will see this as a difficult time to sell, because they'll see their prices as being depressed. But to the extent we do buy, which I think we will continue to, then it's likely to cost us less than it would have otherwise."