Re: Proprietary era is over, IBM exec to say

Original From: <thomas@inorbit.com>

> What has my interest in this is the difference between
> "open systems" and "open source". The distinction seems
> to have blurred significantly recently. I'm not clear if any
> difference remains.

I interpret Mr. Zeitler's remarks, and IBM's promotion of Linux, mostly as a
swipe at Microsoft.  They give us a glimpse at how IBM has, and intends to
compete against Microsoft.

IBM is attempting to shift the playing field away from operating systems.
IBM seems to be saying that operating systems, in and of themselves should
not be a big concern.  They're saying that database, JVM, application
servers, and standard protocols are where they want to focus their
attention.  And they want the market to follow.

This direction does de-emphasize the role of ALL "operating systems",
including OS/400.  Not that IBM would discontinue support for OS/400, but
that IBM's strategic direction is to distinguish itself in the middleware
market.  Middleware is the platform of the future.  Not any particular
operating system.

IBM is not whole-heartedly for open source.  For example, would anyone
expect the source code for DB2, Websphere, MQ Series, or IBM's JVMs to
become public?  No, "proprietary" is alive and well <smile>!

But if people are buying Linux, that mostly means they're not buying
Windows.  It may also mean they're not buying OS/400.  But that won't hurt
IBM much.  IBM will sell middleware to those people.  And Microsoft,
apparently won't.

Nathan M. Andelin
www.relational-data.com