[Beowulf] Oh.. IBM eats Red Hat

[Chuck_Petras at selinc.com]

Cringely has some interesting observations...

"The deal is a good fit for many reasons explained below. And remember Red 
Hat is just down the road from IBM?s huge operation in Raleigh, NC.

"Will Amazon, Google, and Microsoft now run out and buy SUSE, Ubuntu, 
Apache, etc?  Yes.

"Will there be a mad rush to create new Linux distros? No. I think that 
boat has already sailed and further Linux branding won?t happen, at least 
not for traditional business reasons.

[SNIP]

"These big questions have yet to be answered, of course. Only time will 
tell. But we?ll shortly begin to see hints. What happens to Red Hat 
management, for example? There are those who think Red Hat will, in many 
ways, become the surviving corporate culture here ? that is if Red Hat?s 
Jim Whitehurst gets Ginni Rometty?s IBM CEO job as part of the deal. 
That?s what I am predicting will happen. Ginni is overdue for retirement, 
this acquisition will not only qualify her for a huge retirement package, 
it will do so in a way that won?t be clearly successful or unsuccessful 
for years to come, so no clawbacks. And yet the market will (eventually) 
love it, IBM shares will soar, and Ginni will depart looking like a 
genius.

[SNIP]

"In the end the C-suite of IBM may be finally admitting to themselves what 
you and I have known for several years ? that their strategic imperatives 
are not doing as well as they promised.  They also know they?ve invested 
way too much in stock repurchases and way too little in the business.  So 
with this Red Hat deal they?ve basically bet the farm to get themselves 
back in the game.

"With Whitehurst at the top of IBM, the company will not only have an 
outsider like Gerstner was, it will have its first CEO ever who won?t be 
coming with a sales background. This is very good, because IBM will have a 
technical leader finally running the show.

"Let?s review:

"Ginni Rometty is past the age where IBM likes to retire CEO?s, which is 
60.

"Jim Whitehurst is 51, the age when IBM likes to hire new CEO?s.

"I don?t see Whitehurst moving to Armonk, I do see IBM moving to Raleigh.

"I do see Whitehurst as CEO of IBM in six months or less.

"The Red Hat team will expand their products into new areas. IBM 
executives will retire in droves because they can?t compete and will 
resist learning something new.


Red Hat takes over IBM
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.cringely.com_2018_10_29_red-2Dhat-2Dtakes-2Dover-2Dibm_&d=DwIFAw&c=-_uRSsrpJskZgEkGwdW-sXvhn_FXVaEGsm0EI46qilk&r=fawF3TRTwCqlaBkoLcxYCr4F4NRwCc64hmEgi9rHPpE&m=nBHJaAM6JyP3cvsCYzpD-gPsPm8M8gpYv5jayTSj5t8&s=tnaZNtnYayv2W8cBKjyxw_M4RSZlAU3NtCYjpkREYVo&e=



Chuck Petras, PE**
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc
Pullman, WA  99163  USA
http://www.selinc.com

SEL Synchrophasors - A New View of the Power System <
http://synchrophasor.selinc.com>

Making Electric Power Safer, More Reliable, and More Economical (R)

** Registered in Oregon.
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