Of course, this title is metaphorical, but it paints a good picture of IBM’s journey from a conservative corporation to a corporation that cashes out the biggest amount for a tech company in history, for a company that is based on open source. Recommend it as an interesting read.
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/ibm-began-buying-red-hat-20-years-ago
1hio. The problem is the same managers that abandoned Z, Unix, and OS/400 developers will be in charge. Those choices were made at the top. Some Indian firm will buy RedHat in 10 years for 3 billion when IBM is done draining the value out of it. This was not a "BIG bet" to become a cloud player. This was a calculated move to delay the inevitable.
1jee. You say IBM overpaid, And I agree with you. BUT what was the alternative??? IBM had to get back into the game of cloud, and the only way to do that was buy Redhat or Hortenworks. They were the only 2 open source players left standing. (both have since been gobbled up). Remember why IBM had to do this. IBM owned the Enterprise developers market until approx 5 years ago. That’s when Open source took off. IBM refused to show the developers a path from Z, Unix, or OS/400 to “Open” source, and thus left the door open for the developers to switch horses. SO you are a developer and have the choice of supporting 3 code stacks (Z, Unix, and OS/400) or you get the choice to move to one code stack (LINUX). What do you do??? Of course you choose LINUX . IBM refused to invest here, and developers abandoned them at warp speed. IBM has finally thrown in the towel and agreed they should have invested, but that train has left the station. So how do you get back into the cloud game, and possibly into the good graces of the developer community??? Redhat baby. You call the enterprise code game “hybrid”, and assimilate the biggest player. You then leverage that “enterprise” code stack via Redhat to exploit what’s already installed. GAME OVER. Is it a big bet. YES!!!! BUT it’s the only bet left to play Oh by the way Google should have bought Redhat, but while they were proposing a partnership, IBM was getting their checkbook out. Google there was an opportune moment and you let it pass. Overpaying May Be correct, BUT remember IBM’s first offer of 185 was rejected. IBM was determined to crash the cloud party as they knew they were fading away, and the only way to do it was leverage the code. Most Wall Street analysts say there are three major players in cloud. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Each has their strength. I believe IBM just out flanked Google, and will most likely leverage their way into 3rd place. Like I said before. ITS a BIG bet, but it was the only bet left to play.
IBM overpaid, end of discussion.
Ginny thinks it's a good idea because finally IBM will have a footprint in the cloud because they own a linux server company. She's too late to the game and should be fired.