Comments on: Method to Palmisano's madness

On the surface, IBM's sale to Lenovo looks like a humiliating retreat, but there's a careful logic behind this radical refashioning.

[wahooyahoo]

IBM ha ha ha

They should have sold their laptop business to Bill Gates. Wait a minute he already has enough from them. LOL

[tbeckner]

The Elephant Can't Dance!

The elephant can no longer dance, in fact, it appears that with PC hard drive sellout and now the PC sellout, that the elephant can no longer walk. Agreed, IBM can make more money selling services, but if that is the case, then why don't they sell clothes and other products made in china in large box stores call IBM-Marts at everyday low prices!

Wrong Again

Although all that logic sounds fine, I don't believe that as a business manager, I'd trust IBM to support software for which it doesn't supply hardware.

Business people who've been dealing with IBM for many years have noticed that the company's attention wanders away from software when it's cost is not increasing regularly due to hardware upgrades. Their eyes are on the revenue stream.

The fact of IBM not having a double stream of revenues will worry many IT managers and their bosses. In fact, I think this is another of IBM's dumb moves like the PC-DOS debacle.

Software & Hardware are different now

What software are we talking about? The only software that really matters to tune with the hardware is the OS or the DB. When you buy HP or IBM how many % use there OS? Not many. Same is for dell. They just use linux. IBM can still provide a complete solution by making partnerships with hardware firms. The idea of software and hardware from the same source is old now and hasn't ever worked. The reason why Sun is promoting and embracing the intel platform now.

[iangs]

Missing the IBM point

IBM's cah cows are already in software and Services. Ask any corporate IT person what IBM does and their first answer will not be PCs. In fact they left the PC business a long time ago, only really hanging on to their Notebooks because they were so good.

Today, IBM stands for Service provision (outsourcing), middleware and consulting engagements more than anything else. My company is full of IBM with not an IBM PC in sight.

[dlyonsl]

Greed Conquers All

As a small business owner I view the move by IBM to dump their PC business with a large degree of disgust. Integrity in the US business world has taken a back seat to out and out greed.

The current move by IBM to dump their PC business epitomizes the current trend in the United States to shift ever more business to China in the hopes that it will make even more money for the stock holders and, of course, for the high rollers in IBM. The fact that they have left their former PC customers high and dry, not to mention the lost jobs within IBM's PC operations never entered the equation.

The mass exodis of US business to China, all in the name of more money for the top people leaves the average US worker out in the cold; forced to hunt for lower paying jobs. This doesn't seem to matter any more to either big business or the current administration.

The people who purchased IBM PCs are also left out in the cold as well. I can imagine the kind of support I won't get when I have a problem with my Thinkpad X-40. Fortunately my other computers are Dell and, so far, they seem to know how to run a business.

It also appears that no one even attempts to address the fact that the quality of Chinese made goods ranges from barely adequate to abysmal. My personal experience with Chinese made goods is that they usually fail or fall apart right after the warranty expires.

I,for one, hope the IBM deal blows up in their faces. I know that I will never have anything to do with anything IBM is associated with from this point forward.

IBM has again proven that greed conquers all.

Fortunately my other computers are Dell??

You better take another look at where your Dell's are made. They might do some assembly in the US, but everything that goes into it, is made in China. In fact name one computer manufacturer who is not making computers in Taiwan or China.

Your IBM's, Dell's, HP's, Sony's, Apple's, etc., etc. are all being made in China or Taiwan, by just a handful of manufacturers. The only thing IBM's decission to sell might change is who handles the service and support of your PC. In todays ultra competitive PC market, the only thing that differentiates any of these PC's, regardless of desktop or notebook, is who designs them. If IBM is smart, for their notebooks, they will keep their Japan design team on board. Losing them will remove the quality factor that goes into all IBM's notebooks. The PC companies that you have to worry about are the ones who essentially throw it over the wall to the guys in Taiwan and hope for something reasonable to come out. Once it gets to that point, you are asking for lower quality. Not to cut down the guys in Taiwan, but I work with them all the time and they have not attained the level of the engineers here in Japan.

Are you a gherkin (sp?)

Audrey and I were sitting in a cafe this morning, thinking of our wasted youths, and we couldn't help but recall our time with you... fondly. Would love to hear from you. Alec
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