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Should IBM results count as open source win?
By John | January 15, 2008
Dana Blankenhorn recently asked this question and concludes that the answer is “Yes.” I think that he is really stretching on this one. If you give a 10x weight factor to Linux and Linux alone, he might have a point. Clearly, IBM was extremely innovative by taking the risks that it has with Linux. These risks have clearly paid off in global markets. In my opinion, however, operating systems have always been a loss leader for IBM to sell hardware and other proprietary software. If you look at the primary IBM software pillars WebShere, DB2, Tivoli, and Lotus, they are clearly fixed in a proprietary paradigm. IBM’s Q4 wins, IMHO, have much more to do with using propriatry software in its services model than it does with open source. Therefore, I am not sure that using IBM as a litmus for “Open Source” wins is the best example.
Topics: ibm | No Comments »
