From: harpe@netnews.louisville.edu (Mike Harpe)
Subject: Re: History was made today...
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:02:32 GMT
Organization: University of Louisville

I normally don't respond to these kinds of postings, but I was sufficiently
moved by the news that I do have to make some comments.  Note at the start,
I am a true Mac believer.  I have about $5K set aside to buy my dream Mac
in the next few months.....

hacker@access.digex.com (Dark Hacker) writes:

>History was made today.  IBM's stock price dropped to below its book
>value of 55 today, to close at 51 points per share on news that Big
>Blue would be shedding another 25,000 workers and cutting their
>dividend.  On the very same day, Apple Computer stock closed at 55
>points per share, 4 points higher than that of Big Blue.

IBM is definitely dying.  They have made three major mistakes.  Token Ring,
the whole Microchannel-OS/2-PS/2 debacle, and the ES/9000 mainframe 
series.  The motivations behind each were that IBM has always been able
to assume control of a situation by forcing upgrades on customers.  They had
built their entire sales strategy around planned obsolescence coupled with
being the only source for replacements.  Customers used to not be able to
walk as easily.  Now they can.  IBM insiders will be the first to tell you
that this is the real failure of their strategy.

>When the Apple Macintosh was first introduced, IBM derided this computer
>as "a toy" claiming that mice were too difficult for users to comprehend
>and use.  They laughed at the little toaster of a machine:  "The business
>world will never accept it."  "No one could use this for any serious
>commercial development."

I said at the time that you could almost sense the fear in the real brains
at IBM.  They knew that this was something totally new.  They knew that they
had been whipped.  The only choice was to try to knock it in the head before
it was too late...

>But who's laughing now?  IBM is on the skids and scrambling to stay
>alive.  Apple Computer is experiencing record sales and revenues
>thanks to their new Powerbook computers.

Apple adpated and overcame....

>Innovation and attention to the customer in the form of ergonomic design
>and well engineered products are what distinguish Apple's computers from
>the utter crap being churned out by IBM and the PC clone manufacturers.
>No longer able to rely on consistent sales of big mainframes to huge
>institutions, IBM is suddenly finding it has to (gasp) compete and, if
>it learns its lesson at all, will have learned it too late.

They obviously are not learning.  What you have not seen through all this is
a major change in the way that company makes decisions.  Oh sure, they have
fired a few people, but hey, Apple did that.  I personally think that until
Akers and a significant percentage of the board of directors is gone, IBM
will continue to founder.  Apple had to get rid of Gassee and a few others
before they could do the Classic and the PowerBooks.  IBM needs to be gutted
and rebuilt from a management viewpoint if it's going to survive.

>Ignore the market... and the market will ignore you...

"All the utensils in the world won't help a bad cook" - Anonymous

>- Dark Hacker
>-- 
>Dark Hacker @ Black Silicon, Fortress Of Computation
>hacker@black-silicon.mclean.va.us

>"Life itself is... COMPUTATION!"

Mike Harpe                                PSTN: 502-588-5542
003 Ormsby Building                        FAX: 502-588-7008
University of Louisville              Internet: harpe@hermes.louisville.edu
Louisville, KY 40292

"He's not a man, he's a remorseless eating machine!" - The Simpsons
-- 
Mike Harpe                                PSTN: 502-588-5542
003 Ormsby Building                        FAX: 502-588-7008
University of Louisville              Internet: harpe@hermes.louisville.edu
Louisville, KY 40292