[ Thanks to Scott
Ruecker for this link. ]
“What was it that made IBM embrace Linux while so many
other large computer companies shunned it?“There were several factors. IBM is a large computer company and
so you can look at any strategy through a software, hardware, or
services lens. On a really good day you can even look through all
three! All by itself, IBM has multiple hardware lines and having a
single operating system that spans all of them makes certain things
easier. Any given customer problem can be solved and the solution
optimized by choosing the right hardware, the right OS, the right
middleware, the right applications, and the right services to tie
them all together, if necessary. Linux increases the options that
our customers and we have, not decreases them. Note that this “one
thing that spans several platforms” strategy is used in various
ways by IBM such as with Eclipse, Java, XML, ODF, web services, and
SOA. It helps make interoperability a tool rather than a marketing
buzzword…”
Related Story:
Computerworld:
IBM Exec Sees Open-Source Boom in 2006(Jan 31, 2006)