Consolidated Statements Of Operations - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2015
Revenue:
Subscription	$ 279,246	$ 118,322	$ 65,239
Support	574,680	651,807	681,524
Total recurring revenue	853,926	770,129	746,763
Perpetual license	133,390	173,467	282,760
Total subscription, support and license revenue	987,316	943,596	1,029,523
Professional services	176,723	196,937	225,719
Total revenue	1,164,039	1,140,533	1,255,242
Cost of revenue:
Cost of license and subscription revenue	86,047	69,710	53,163
Cost of support revenue	92,202	85,729	82,829
Total cost of software revenue	178,249	155,439	135,992
Cost of professional services revenue	150,770	170,226	198,742
Total cost of revenue	329,019	325,665	334,734
Gross margin	835,020	814,868	920,508
Sales and marketing	372,946	367,465	346,794
Research and development	236,059	229,331	227,513
General and administrative	145,067	145,615	158,715
U.S. pension settlement loss	0	0	66,332
Amortization of acquired intangible assets	32,108	33,198	36,129
Restructuring charges	7,942	76,273	43,409
Total operating expenses	794,122	851,882	878,892
Operating income (loss)	40,898	(37,014)	41,616
Foreign currency losses, net	(5,686)	(1,889)	(2,706)
Interest income	3,249	3,437	3,697
Interest expense	(42,400)	(29,882)	(14,742)
Other income (expense), net	2,533	(1,844)	(1,340)
Income (loss) before income taxes	(1,406)	(67,192)	26,525
Benefit from income taxes	(7,645)	(12,727)	(21,032)
Net income (loss)	$ 6,239	$ (54,465)	$ 47,557
Earnings (loss) per share—Basic (in USD per share)	$ 0.05	$ (0.48)	$ 0.41
Earnings (loss) per share—Diluted (in USD per share)	$ 0.05	$ (0.48)	$ 0.41
Weighted average shares outstanding—Basic (in shares)	115,523	114,612	114,775
Weighted average shares outstanding—Diluted (in shares)	117,356	114,612	116,012