I've been a part of one of these suddent acqui-hires. It's not terribly fun if you're the guy building the critical software, not knowing if you'll have to kill your whole year's work the next day so you can switch from your comfy, cramped space to some cube-farm.
And the lawyers...the whole process took two months, but it probably took 2 years off my life. And I didn't even get that much out of it besides a stable corporate salary.
Would not recommend. If you're going to go corporate, go in facing foward, with eyes wide open. Don't back into it for what is essentially a hiring bonus and a bribe to throw away much of the work you spent the past x-months caring deeply about.
It can also depend on the culture of the acquiring corp. I went through an acquisition and one of the bidding companies advertised themselves as a very process driven, standards focused corporate culture and had even instituted their own program management certification that all of the incoming managers would have to pass to stay on board.
Needless to say this was an absolute anathema to any small startup who's spent the last few years doing anything to survive and get positioned for an acquisition. It drove away everybody else involved in the acquisition and even the investment banking firm we were using was turned off by the pitch. "But look at all these entrenched and inflexible processes that take all of the thinking and joy out of your work that we're offering you!"
If you are going to work in the software industry, you are best suited if you get comfortable early with the idea of throwing away 6 months of work at a moments' notice.
I have a friend who was acqui-hired for his successful open source project. In the general sense it was positive because he was able to focus on the project and not in the money.
I think the case of 100% open source projects without services attached is much different of companies who want an exit or growing. I can't imagine a dystopian future where a company like Google is being acquired by Yahoo.
And the lawyers...the whole process took two months, but it probably took 2 years off my life. And I didn't even get that much out of it besides a stable corporate salary.
Would not recommend. If you're going to go corporate, go in facing foward, with eyes wide open. Don't back into it for what is essentially a hiring bonus and a bribe to throw away much of the work you spent the past x-months caring deeply about.