Could/Would Apple swoop in and pick up Sun?

Just a thought here – we realize this is pretty much not going to happen – but would there be any interest at all in Sun from Apple?  Bill Joy said the two companies almost merged three times in the 90s (when Jobs wasn’t running the show). IBM just walked away from the table on a $7 billion dollar buyout opportunity.  They wouldn’t take the $9.40 a share offer.

Apple has a few bucks laying around.

We know Apple never buys big companies and prefers to develop from the inside rather than purchasing its technology knowledge.  But its hard not to speculate that there might be some interest in a $7 billion Sun Microsystems pickup after IBM walked away.  There are three technologies that Apple could be  interested in, as well as getting a roster of enterprise clients (does Apple even want that?):

• ZFS the File System that Apple is widely expected to use in its mainstream OS
  
• Open Office Another Office Suite to go with iWork
  
• Java On OS X.  Little interest for the iPhone
  

What else could Apple gain from a Sun pickup?  The most obvious answer is the human capital.  They have amazing Unix people, some processor people and even some nice facilities around the Valley.  Any thoughts out there?

We are giving 1 in 10,000 odds.  Any takers?

Update: Just to clarifyx10, we don’t think Apple should buy Sun, we were just throwing out the possibility for discussion.