-----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Cole Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 4:44 AM To: [email protected] Subject: T3 Sues IBM To Break its Mainframe Monopoly
As Ralph Johnson noted in his post to the FLEX-ES listserv, "Interesting!" http://www.sys-con.com/read/468626.htm IBM's intransigence in its so called "negotiations" with FSI, its belligerence with PSI, its bullying of T3 and its total shunning of Hercules has created a substantial threat to my business and the business of a hundred or two other small mainframe developers. I no longer believe that IBM is acting in the long term interest of the z/OS industry. Or more accurately, I believe that IBM's focus on z/OS has changed from growth to consolidation, and that they see themselves less as a hardware/software company and more as services company. Their actions with respect to the z/OS world are utterly anti-competitive and in total disregard of what is needed to nurture the long term health of this portion of their business. <SNIP> I wonder if they might have missed the lessons of Amdahl? In 1989 Amdahl started down the road to destruction. Layoffs that as I recall averaged 1 every 9 months from 1989 to 1995. They decided they were a services company, then it was a software company (with UTX as their SCP), then they were a DASD company, then they were a services company, but no, wait, we are a mainframe manufacturer, uh, no, uh we are telecommunications controller maker... In Amdahl's case Fujitsu exercised their option to buy out the company, and approximately 2 years later let go those who could not get their eyes to focus. Too little too late. Meanwhile, I have watched IBM's people undercut their mainframe line because they revenue off non-mainframes. How many companies attempted a migration from their mainframe to Siebel because of IBM sales persons? Doesn't make any difference, because the churn of machines caused IBM to make money (after all, how many of those Regattas did they sell?). And as we all know, the bottom line is the only line one is to watch. Regards, Steve Thompson -- All opinions expressed by me are my own and may not necessarily reflect those of my employer. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
