The great thing about IBM is not so much that their stock price (as of 6th August) is $130.14.
It’s not that their market capitalisation is $164,145,600,000.
The great thing about IBM is that they have committed to the idea of free, open source, software!
Now, I can hear giggling from the back row there. Just take your iPads and laptops and digital watches and horrid corporate evil monopolist trash, and leave by the nearest fire exit. IBM is down with the guyz!
Or is it galz or boyz in da hood or what? I’m a little behind the times on this marketing crap.
Anyway, y’all will be gratified to know that IBM has spent $1 billion, yes, folks, that’s $1 billion, and my Crystal Cathedral only needs a tithe of that, Praise RMS!, on developing Free And Open Software.
And I’m saving the best part for last. IBM has Corporate Respect. IBM has Congressmen In Its Pocket. IBM is a byword for being, well, IBM. IBM benefits the world, because, if you analyse it, I stands for International, M stands for Machines, and B stands for any bullshit you care to name, as long as it’s good business for IBM.
Like using Linux as their entry point for FLOSS, for example. They could have used FreeBSD, they could have used Haiku, they could even have gone back to OS/2. But NO!
IBM chose Linux. Linux is the choice of choices for a corporate giant whose early claim to fame is to define FUD!
And, you know what the best thing about all this is? IBM is not obliged to give anything back at all to the community, because that’s the way the GPL license works, as long as you keep stuff in-house! Isn’t that great?
But never mind. All that money buys something. In fact, it buys the AustinResearchLaboratoryBasementArmy™!
Praise the Lord in his Crystal Meth Cathedral!
Comments
This is IBM’s own description of the currents activities undertaken by the Austin Research Group (http://www.research.ibm.com/arl/):
“Current focus areas of IBM Research – Austin include high performance/low power VLSI design and tools, system-level power analysis, and new system architectures. There is a wide range of low power and energy efficiency activities underway throughout the multiple IBM Research laboratories and throughout the various IBM product and services divisions.
In addition to its own ongoing power-related research, the lab, as part of IBM’s Low Power Initiative, is helping to coordinate low power and energy efficiency activities and bring people together throughout IBM who are working in these important areas.”
That sounds totally relevant to Linux, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s why there’s little wonder that Linux can’t even suspend a cheapo laptop properly.
a billion dollars? that’s why they are churning out new window managers instead of fixing the bugs in grub?
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