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I’m saying given IBMs track record of completely failing at innovation repeatedly and failing at investing on the correct technologies, why do you assume today’

I’m saying given IBMs track record of completely failing at innovation repeatedly and failing at investing on the correct technologies, why do you assume today’s CEO is better at it and has bucked the milquetoast culture that has pervaded IBM? It’s a company that has largely divested its ability to provide solutions and technology and turned more into a large shop consultancy (+ milking their legacy mainframe contracts and whatnot).

kelnos 11mo ago
Except that, over the same time period, IBM was also very successful at innovation and investing in technologies. Yes, they made some very high-profile misses that the top poster lists, but they were still a powerhouse doing other stuff during that time (as a commenter replying to that points out).
- vlovich123 11mo ago
  Except all the technologies listed were basically in the heydey of the 70s and 80s. Gerstner redirected IBM into an enterprise services business in the early 90s and by the late 90s that's where all their money was. The 2002 acquisition of PwC consulting cemented this shift. In the mid 2010s under Ginni Rometty IBM software became secondary and it abandoned selling it as standalone software instead bundling it into its consultancy. So IBM hasn't been doing hardware R&D for about three decades and abandoned software R&D well over a decade ago. R&D hasn't been in their DNA for a long time, their previous contributions notwithstanding.
  - EagnaIonat 11mo ago
    > So IBM hasn't been doing hardware R&D for about three decades Even a 5 second google search says you are wrong. https://research.ibm.com/semiconductors/ai-hardware-center https://research.ibm.com/semiconductors/ai-hardware-center https://research.ibm.com/topics/quantum-hardware https://research.ibm.com/topics/quantum-hardware
    - vlovich123 11mo ago
      Having a research department is very different from whether they are actually accomplishing anything and whether or not it is a meaningful revenue stream. On all fronts this is just not true. The quantum stuff so far in the industry is vapor ware and its unclear wether IBM is really making forward progress vs yearly pronouncements of progress to keep the funding stream open
      - EagnaIonat 11mo ago
        You said they hadn’t one. Google search said you were wrong. You don’t get to change the goalposts.

kelnos 11mo ago

Except that, over the same time period, IBM was also very successful at innovation and investing in technologies. Yes, they made some very high-profile misses that the top poster lists, but they were still a powerhouse doing other stuff during that time (as a commenter replying to that points out).

vlovich123 11mo ago
Except all the technologies listed were basically in the heydey of the 70s and 80s. Gerstner redirected IBM into an enterprise services business in the early 90s and by the late 90s that's where all their money was. The 2002 acquisition of PwC consulting cemented this shift. In the mid 2010s under Ginni Rometty IBM software became secondary and it abandoned selling it as standalone software instead bundling it into its consultancy. So IBM hasn't been doing hardware R&D for about three decades and abandoned software R&D well over a decade ago. R&D hasn't been in their DNA for a long time, their previous contributions notwithstanding.
- EagnaIonat 11mo ago
  > So IBM hasn't been doing hardware R&D for about three decades Even a 5 second google search says you are wrong. https://research.ibm.com/semiconductors/ai-hardware-center https://research.ibm.com/semiconductors/ai-hardware-center https://research.ibm.com/topics/quantum-hardware https://research.ibm.com/topics/quantum-hardware
  - vlovich123 11mo ago
    Having a research department is very different from whether they are actually accomplishing anything and whether or not it is a meaningful revenue stream. On all fronts this is just not true. The quantum stuff so far in the industry is vapor ware and its unclear wether IBM is really making forward progress vs yearly pronouncements of progress to keep the funding stream open
    - EagnaIonat 11mo ago
      You said they hadn’t one. Google search said you were wrong. You don’t get to change the goalposts.