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OpenText Corp. (NASDAQ: OTEX) is making its move to capitalize off of the Hewlett-Packard Co.’s (NYSE: HPQ) woes over its accounting issues from the Autonomy acquisition. OpenText said on Monday that it is offering Autonomy customers interested in protecting their software investments an option to trade in valid Autonomy licenses for OpenText licenses.

OpenText president and CEO, Mark J. Barrenechea, said:

We want to help Autonomy customers concerned with uncertainty about the future. With the OpenText trade-in offer, we’re providing an opportunity for a simple switch to OpenText software from Autonomy software, with no increase to a customer’s current software costs, but with a clear and confident path to future value and more innovation.

The promise is that OpenText will work closely with Autonomy customers to achieve a seamless transition with minimal disruption to their organization. OpenText Professional Services teams and OpenText partners will be on hand to ensure a smooth transition. This trade-in offer will expire December 31, 2012.

Moving to capitalize on the blunders of others is nothing new. Still, OpenText is only a $3.2 billion company by market cap, and its fiscal 2013 revenues ending in June are only expected to be almost $1.4 billion. Any gains that the company can make by taking away business from others would help. Note also that OpenText shares have risen about 4% over the past week.

JON C. OGG