World is richer and better the last millenium, thanks to IBM !!
I wish another millenium of success to this icon!
Though , this is more a time to look book and celebrate successes like the first PC among other things, a hinge of disappoinment personally that IBM dint buy Sun(i am a hardcore sun fan, you see).. I wonder what the IBMers think of that inside the company??
being such a big company, most people probably didn't even know. Such big things are normally kept secret until the very end. So there were only the obvious rumors, everybody knew from the press.
I can only speculate, but some important deciders apparently thought that Sun was not worth more than IBM offered. This may sound hard, but this is just business. You don't buy a company if you don't have the impression that it can pay out according to your business plan.
So what you have to do is to compare the portfolios of Sun and IBM. And then you think about the resulting portfolio after the merge. Some of the crown jewels (OOO and Java) were made free (GNU), so besides the patent circus around Java, there is not much money to earn. Other things would only double already available offerings, especially the hardware (Sparc vs. Power) and OS (Solaris vs. AIX). If I'd be responsible for deciding on funding for these things, I'd probably had a very hard time to not give Sparc and Solaris a deathblow. As an engineer however, I surely would like to take a lunch with the developers and chat about the design and other things.
I'm not sure what to think about being a fan of a company. IMHO, people normally care more about products... Please keep in mind that there is only one reason for a company to exist - to make the most possible profit. The main differences (beside the products) between them are their inner culture and how they present themselves to the customers.
Cheers, Tom (Disclaimer: what I wrote, is only my own personal opinion, and not necessarily identical to what my employer would say.)
Just to clarify a thing "I'm not sure what to think about being a fan of a company. IMHO, people normally care more about products... Please keep in mind that there is only one reason for a company to exist - to make the most possible profit"
That was more in anguish rather than a business decision.. I understand IBM would have had its reasons and would have thought through better!
What i meant was as i look back at IBM, for a great company which has built so many wonderful products and a great culture , it would have managed to keep the spirits of sun alive if it had bought it.. There is a saying that's circulating inside Oracle - "Oracle recruits the best and makes them the worst". I am sure James Gosling would agree :)
World is richer and better the last millenium, thanks to IBM !!
ReplyDeleteI wish another millenium of success to this icon!
Though , this is more a time to look book and celebrate successes like the first PC among other things, a hinge of disappoinment personally that IBM dint buy Sun(i am a hardcore sun fan, you see).. I wonder what the IBMers think of that inside the company??
Cheers,
-Anand
Well, I have no idea, we didn't bring up the topic together before... sorry.
ReplyDeleteAnand,
ReplyDeletebeing such a big company, most people probably didn't even know. Such big things are normally kept secret until the very end. So there were only the obvious rumors, everybody knew from the press.
I can only speculate, but some important deciders apparently thought that Sun was not worth more than IBM offered. This may sound hard, but this is just business. You don't buy a company if you don't have the impression that it can pay out according to your business plan.
So what you have to do is to compare the portfolios of Sun and IBM. And then you think about the resulting portfolio after the merge. Some of the crown jewels (OOO and Java) were made free (GNU), so besides the patent circus around Java, there is not much money to earn. Other things would only double already available offerings, especially the hardware (Sparc vs. Power) and OS (Solaris vs. AIX). If I'd be responsible for deciding on funding for these things, I'd probably had a very hard time to not give Sparc and Solaris a deathblow. As an engineer however, I surely would like to take a lunch with the developers and chat about the design and other things.
I'm not sure what to think about being a fan of a company. IMHO, people normally care more about products... Please keep in mind that there is only one reason for a company to exist - to make the most possible profit. The main differences (beside the products) between them are their inner culture and how they present themselves to the customers.
Cheers,
Tom
(Disclaimer: what I wrote, is only my own personal opinion, and not necessarily identical to what my employer would say.)
Thanks for your nice and detailed comment Tom! :)
ReplyDeleteTom, thanks for such a detailed explanation..
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify a thing
"I'm not sure what to think about being a fan of a company. IMHO, people normally care more about products... Please keep in mind that there is only one reason for a company to exist - to make the most possible profit"
That was more in anguish rather than a business decision.. I understand IBM would have had its reasons and would have thought through better!
What i meant was as i look back at IBM, for a great company which has built so many wonderful products and a great culture , it would have managed to keep the spirits of sun alive if it had bought it..
There is a saying that's circulating inside Oracle - "Oracle recruits the best and makes them the worst". I am sure James Gosling would agree :)