"who buys IBM these days" is answered by your question and it's a money printing machine which due to the contracts and how they position themselves, hardly eve

"who buys IBM these days" is answered by your question and it's a money printing machine which due to the contracts and how they position themselves, hardly ever jams. I've been in quite some government agencies over the world and you would be surprised with how many services and consulting they are hard-wired in organizations. IBM MQ, JBOSS, DB2, iSeries and so forth - if you let IBM run its course, it's like cancer spreading and at some time there's a point of no return (and this happened years ago mostly). Over time the sales people get so ingrained into the organization, it's just commonly accepted IBM has tentacles all around the org. and internal architects who try to reform quickly learn it is near impossible, even though there are cheaper alternatives available because of how slow and multi layered these bureaucracies are. Good luck trying to get all stakeholders around the table in time and in a justly manner without IBM sitting at the table grinning at their contracts. Once they are in, they won't let loose and maybe the glory days are over, they will continue to print money from this for years to come.