Re: [Fsfe-uk] IBM says bye-bye to PC

[Graham Seaman]

Paul Mobbs wrote:

> Well, it had to happen sooner or later.
>
> Does thi smean they're ditching small systems because consultancy makes more 
> money???
>
>  
They say they  think everythings going to be on demand.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/08/ibm_lenovo_memo/

The strategy (which I find unbelievable, but I keep hearing it) is that 
they use free software to kill MS etc; then when there's no market for 
proprietary software everything becomes a service (a la salesforce.com, 
or grid computing for more processor intensive stuff), so no-one needs 
PCs - thin clients are quite enough.  Since the gpl can't affect 
services they neutralize free software as a competitor. And then they 
have a monopoly on the services so we're back in the 1970s and they're 
happy again after a regrettable slip with MS for a few years.

To me it sounds a bit mad/paranoid,  but I do believe its seriously what 
they're proposing.

Graham