On Friday, 10/06/2006 at 01:48 EST, "Stephen P. Frazier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > When I started with computers in 1968, IBM sold very good hardware, gave > away the software, and charged for education and support. They became > rich on that model. > > Now, IBM is going to a model where they make good hardware (z9) that > runs a free OS (Linux) very well and they charge for consulting. Will > they become rich again on that model?
I hope so! :-) Actually, you can look at an IBM Annual Report to see where its revenues and gross profits come from. Compare the profit from software to that from hardware and and services. OTOH, slightly more than half of IBM's revenues come from services. Software: 87% profit on 17% of total revenue Hardware: 35% profit on 27% of total revenue Sevices: 52% profit on 26% of total revenue Now I know why the field of Operations Research exists. :-) Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott
