IBM over the last two decades really seems to be a story of managed decline. Its proprietary systems were riding high in the 90s (even if market-share wasn't t

IBM over the last two decades really seems to be a story of managed decline. Its proprietary systems were riding high in the 90s (even if market-share wasn't the absolute largest, their "Big Iron" had a good reputation amongst 'serious' IT folks), but were superseded by linux and commodity hardware at some point in the 00s. They sold off the thinkpad business as non-core, and they sold off their commodity server business (x-series) at some point too. Both hardware and software solutions have been de-emphasised in favour of 'services', and while that's fine in a business sense, it's so sad from the perspective of all that big blue has done for our industry over the years. Yes, they now own RedHat, but large acquisitions are part of this story. Each one stems the decline for a while, but cost-cutting and streamlining inside big blue eventually manages the new addition into a shadow of its former self. Maybe this one will be different ... I hope so.