IBM looking to acquire RedHat
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IBM Nears Deal to Acquire Software Maker Red Hat
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-28/ibm-is-said-to-near-deal-to-acquire-software-maker-red-hatI’m not sure how I feel about this.
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Wow, that's... unbelievable. And yeah, I agree, Red Hat is famous for its great support. And IBM... well, quite the opposite. But Red Hat has not been a good vendor to me for other reasons, so seeing IBM take over isn't all bad.
But I wonder what their goals are here. This could go a lot of ways.
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I would like to see @dyasny's feelings on this for sure.
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Just saw this myself. What in the world? Somehow I don't see IBM as the type of company to embrace open source. They've made changes that are just as big before, so all hope is not lost.
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@travisdh1 said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
Just saw this myself. What in the world? Somehow I don't see IBM as the type of company to embrace open source.
Seriously? They have been the number one open source supporter for decades. They are the ultimate open source company overall (obviously their bread and butter is hardware, which isn't sourced at all.) Red Hat has a more pure open source stance, but in dollar value, no one compares to IBM in open source whatsoever. From an open source perspective, it is an absolutely perfect marriage. IBM is the top funder of Linux, the top promoter of open source, and Red Hat is the top maker of it.
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Acquiring Red Hat makes IBM “a credible player in cloud now -- both private and hybrid cloud,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Anurag Rana said. “This gives them an asset that looks forward and not backwards.”....
That bit I find a bit weird. How does Red Hat help IBM with that, really? IBM's stodginess is their problem there, they can't make the elephant dance any more and they left the markets that really innovate. IBM's total dedication to legacy tech and their Power infrastructure has made the a "oh, are they still in business" vendor for a while now. They have nothing to put in front of normal companies, no products of interest. Power is amazing, but is a solid "who cares" product category.
I'm not sure how Red Hat is going to help with that, other than providing IBM a chance to rebrand RH products with IBM's logos so that IT people realize IBM didn't go out of business, yet. Because right now, one of their toughest challenges is people forgetting that they are, in fact, still around.
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@scottalanmiller said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@travisdh1 said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
Just saw this myself. What in the world? Somehow I don't see IBM as the type of company to embrace open source.
Seriously? They have been the number one open source supporter for decades. They are the ultimate open source company overall (obviously their bread and butter is hardware, which isn't sourced at all.) Red Hat has a more pure open source stance, but in dollar value, no one compares to IBM in open source whatsoever. From an open source perspective, it is an absolutely perfect marriage. IBM is the top funder of Linux, the top promoter of open source, and Red Hat is the top maker of it.
Shows you how much I actually know about the IBM of today.
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@travisdh1 said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@scottalanmiller said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@travisdh1 said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
Just saw this myself. What in the world? Somehow I don't see IBM as the type of company to embrace open source.
Seriously? They have been the number one open source supporter for decades. They are the ultimate open source company overall (obviously their bread and butter is hardware, which isn't sourced at all.) Red Hat has a more pure open source stance, but in dollar value, no one compares to IBM in open source whatsoever. From an open source perspective, it is an absolutely perfect marriage. IBM is the top funder of Linux, the top promoter of open source, and Red Hat is the top maker of it.
Shows you how much I actually know about the IBM of today.
My wife, who most of you know is in IT, immediately said "IBM and innovation? What?"
That's pretty much how people feel.
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Regarding Support, I can attest to the chnage if support, they purchase Merge and their PACS system and that changed support dramatically and not in a good way.
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@dbeato said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
Regarding Support, I can attest to the chnage if support, they purchase Merge and their PACS system and that changed support dramatically and not in a good way.
Yes, I love IBM as a company, but I never consider their products because of their support problems.
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@scottalanmiller said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@dbeato said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
Regarding Support, I can attest to the chnage if support, they purchase Merge and their PACS system and that changed support dramatically and not in a good way.
Yes, I love IBM as a company, but I never consider their products because of their support problems.
Is it likely that Red Hat support will turn bad because IBM buys it? Or will that operate as-is and continue how it's been?
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@Obsolesce said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@scottalanmiller said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@dbeato said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
Regarding Support, I can attest to the chnage if support, they purchase Merge and their PACS system and that changed support dramatically and not in a good way.
Yes, I love IBM as a company, but I never consider their products because of their support problems.
Is it likely that Red Hat support will turn bad because IBM buys it? Or will that operate as-is and continue how it's been?
I'd say 50/50 that it could go either way. Honestly, because of integrity problems I've had with Red Hat in the past, the quality of their support was lost to me because I could not trust them being allowed in the door. So IBM buying them makes me feel comfortable that IBM will deal with ethics issues. Which is more important than support.
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Who could potentially be more effected, if any, by this Fedora and/or CentOS?
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@black3dynamite said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
Who could potentially be more effected, if any, by this Fedora and/or CentOS?
I don't think either.
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@Obsolesce said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@black3dynamite said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
Who could potentially be more effected, if any, by this Fedora and/or CentOS?
I don't think either.
I agree, I doubt either will be affected.
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@scottalanmiller said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@travisdh1 said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@scottalanmiller said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@travisdh1 said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
Just saw this myself. What in the world? Somehow I don't see IBM as the type of company to embrace open source.
Seriously? They have been the number one open source supporter for decades. They are the ultimate open source company overall (obviously their bread and butter is hardware, which isn't sourced at all.) Red Hat has a more pure open source stance, but in dollar value, no one compares to IBM in open source whatsoever. From an open source perspective, it is an absolutely perfect marriage. IBM is the top funder of Linux, the top promoter of open source, and Red Hat is the top maker of it.
Shows you how much I actually know about the IBM of today.
My wife, who most of you know is in IT, immediately said "IBM and innovation? What?"
That's pretty much how people feel.
This was my first reaction.
The open source, thing was never my concern. I knew that IBM had done a lot with that.
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@scottalanmiller said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
I would like to see @dyasny's feelings on this for sure.
We'll have to wait and see. Frankly, I don't believe IBM will allow the almost-startup-ish way things are done at RHT - dynamic, creative and open to continue. On the other hand - their track record isn't as horrid as Oracle's, so...
Still, I think I jumped ship right on time
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@dyasny said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
@scottalanmiller said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
I would like to see @dyasny's feelings on this for sure.
We'll have to wait and see. Frankly, I don't believe IBM will allow the almost-startup-ish way things are done at RHT - dynamic, creative and open to continue. On the other hand - their track record isn't as horrid as Oracle's, so...
Still, I think I jumped ship right on time
IBM's biggest challenge is cruft and an inability to dance. They want to do good things, but so moment inertia.
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@scottalanmiller said in IBM looking to acquire RedHat:
IBM's biggest challenge is cruft and an inability to dance. They want to do good things, but so moment inertia.
My point exactly - they are much more rigid and there will be a huge culture clash on the inside. People will leave in droves, so you better watch for them starting new companies, and invest in the next OSS giant. Also, a lot of the open projects that haven't been making them too much money might get hurt.
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Someone I was talking to said:
"Interesting hot take; how long until Microsoft buys Canonical and Ubuntu becomes Microsoft Linux for Servers and Workstations. If that's the war IBM is starting, it's almost a certainty at some point."
