Isn’t IBM still operating through a pattern of selling service contracts for sub-par products that do everything in their power to lock their customers in? I feel like they embedded themselves so deeply in some of these public sector orgs that they can’t really orient themselves in any other way than through a predatory business model that lacks innovation.

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ghaff 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

They did buy Red Hat (for a lot of money) and seem to have generally gotten their AI act together although not as visibly as the high profile SV players. Mainframe business seems to hum along. There's also quantum though not a big revenue source yet.

So, overall, seems a pretty decent business at this point although not something that is on a lot of HN readers' radars. Yes, it's oriented towards large companies and public sector.

	▲	georgeecollins 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Buying Red Hat is exactly the behavior John Walker is describing. You don't spend money on R&D, or infrastructure. You acquire a business line and starve it.
	▲	WillAdams 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, but they've made some notable mis-steps: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/09/ibm-paid-pa-33m-to-set... (apparently there were enough states with this problem that there was talk of a class-action lawsuit?)

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forgetfulness 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Up until a few years ago, they were buying products, signing labor-intensive contracts, laying off people, burning out the ones that remain, and not investing in its products

In 2021 they spun off the consultancy business and now seem to just sell software and hardware.

The spin off, Kyndryl, is burdened with unprofitable contacts and is still slashing and burning its workforce.

IBM doesn’t seem to be making a comeback in SaaS or whatnot, they seem to just have split their problems down the middle but not solved them.