Oh yes, I understand that, but as the article points out, focusing on this short-term revenue metric is such a flawed approach to something like the GE Digital

Oh yes, I understand that, but as the article points out, focusing on this short-term revenue metric is such a flawed approach to something like the GE Digital / Predix concept since it was a completely new product that desperately needed widespread adoption to be successful. You can't "transform" an industrial company into one that is at the forefront of software / "digital" with that approach. At least if they let their own teams / businesses use it with minimal friction, they'd have a much better shot at someone coming up with good applications for their product that they could potentially sell externally.