IBM sells PC branch to Chinese

[dmjae2004@yahoo.com]

IBM sells PC branch to Chinese

I think many are missing the point. What IBM has realised is that the PC market is a commodity and branding counts for very little. In fact the current Brand recognition seems to be "Intel Inside". When its a commodity market the IBM infrastructure does not compete too well. So out of this deal. IBM gets part ownership of Lenovo. Sells off a division that has not been profitable. Sells off a division that has been unsuccessfull in all but large or global organiztions. Through Lenonvo they get access to a much lower cost infrastructure to build PCs. It significantly lifts the presence in the China market. It basically removes Intel from the IBM product range. So in my opinion the pressure is on Dell and HP. The market is officially being reset as a commodity market, both of these will need to adapt. Given the current events I dont see why a new vendor would want to venture into this marketspace. Also I am not sure what it means for Intel. So I dont think its about past technical failures. I do think it is about an IBM Business smarts. Dave Typed on a DELL notebook if you care !

IBM sells PC branch to Chinese

I like you worked in shops that used PS/2 because of it's superior quality. I also used them for my own use for years. IBM based everything they made for years on the MCA bus, including the RS/6000 and AS/400. (I think they also made the mainframes with it.) It was a way to standardize alot of their manufacturing. When the market didn't follow them, and went with competing bus, it was the begining of the end of the IBM dominance. Since then, they have tried everything else to catch up unsucessfully. My first non-IBM was a Compaq Presario. Every time I had a problem and had to spend hours on the phone with Cust support, I was moaning I wish IBM had continued to grow the PS/2 product line, and I had it back.

IBM sells PC branch to Chinese

I agree that IBM is a non-factor in this market. When I was in charge of PC support for my EDS account in 1988, we went exclusively with IBM PS/2s (Model 50s; the PS/2 286) because they were the best product for our account. Moreover, we tried a clone AT and found that the quality was inferior and could not be relied on for everyday desktop use. We purchased a Printronix printer soon after and used the clone to control it. As I remember it, I don't think I used a non-IBM PC for the next 6 years. In that time, Compaq and Dell became players with products that rivaled IBM's for quality. Also, at the time I took over the PC support assignment, AT&T was running commercials in which management would rip into the IT staff for sticking with IBM PC's and not considering AT&T. Within 6 months, I had to laugh at that one. Neither AT&T's XT-class or AT-class busses were compatible with our new tape backup system; IBM's were. So, the credit for IBM's sale here really should be given to the Dells and Compaqs of the world that saw an opportunity, especially after the OS/2 and PS/2 backlash, and created products that met and surpassed IBM's standard and created a viable, responsible alternative. The PC I'm typing on, as well as the two that proceded it, are testimony to that. After my professional experience with clones, I was wary of any non-IBM product and any manufacturer had a lot to prove.

IBM sells PC branch to Chinese

We still have the PS/2 Keyboard connection. 2.88mb floppy was defeated by zip drives then CD for capacity.

[David Abramowitz]

IBM sells PC branch to Chinese

From the very beginning, IBM tried to make the PC market their own. When the first IBM PC was introduced the CP/M operating system was the most popular. IBM introduced PC-DOS (which at the time was not owned by MS), and a much larger memory capability. But since then:

[*]The PC Jr.[*]XGA[*]The PS/2 bus[*]OS/2[/list]Some things like the 1.44 meg floppy actually took off, but most everything else was gatesified. Dave

IBM sells PC branch to Chinese

IBM have had a history of disater after disater in the PC market. The blings dried up for IBM in this arena so it's better for them to jump now with a parachute. My hope is that I5 will not follow the same road. When I started programming 20+ years ago, an IBM systems engineer told me to stick it up with an IBM hardware ( a mainframe ) for it's an assurance that I will never be out of job. With the downsizing/outsourcing very common, what can I say?

IBM sells PC branch to Chinese

It was IBM's mainframe influence that gave us the mess we have today. They never really did want that market place very bad. The only thing the PC group was allowed to create was the BIOS. Buy everything else. Can you imagine if they had the vision to write a real op system for it from day one. Spooling, keyed files, and everything else we have had in real op systems. They were still stinging from being the subject of the antitrust suite too. If they persued that very far, they may have been broken up like AT&T. They did make a lot of money though. The end of an era.

[R.Daugherty]

IBM sells PC branch to Chinese

I remember going into an insurance company in 1992 which was sitting on a pile of five year old PS/2's that IBM wouldn't even discuss with the company. They referred all maintenenace issues to an outsourced Canadian firm. Meanwhile, some IBM yahoo is calling me up trying to sell me the replacements the company was seeking bids for. He said, "after all, we're IBM. Nobody stands behind their products better than we do." I just laughed and told him they weren't even interested in standing behind our company wide installation of PS/2 PC's. His bid was outrageous to boot. They've been losing money on PC's ever since clones gave them competition. Whatever, I hope it soon becomes impossibe to pay others to do our work on borrowed money, no matter how cheap the labor. But as far as PC's go, why would anybody do business with IBM? rd

Well, IBM has such a small market share that it really doesn't affect many people. We purchase Dell almost exclusively and have done so for many years. That's the case with most U.S. companies as Dell has the largest market share closely followed by HP. I think it makes sense for IBM to be out of the commodity market. They are not geared very well for selling to the mass market. chuck Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer. "Bernd Wachs" wrote in message news:6b1f7645.-1@WebX.WawyahGHajS... > Is this ok ? > First of all I'd like to hear the opinion of US people. > Second, from my European fellows all over the EU. > Last but not least, where's IBM heading ? > > Let's discuss this topic !!! > > Bernd (My first was a S/38 Mod. 4)