[Info-vax] OT: IBM Offering $9-10 Per Share for Sun

[Arne Vajhøj]

Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> In article <gr75i0$8o4$02$1 at news.t-online.com>,
> 	Michael Kraemer <M.Kraemer at gsi.de> writes:
>> David J Dachtera schrieb:
>>> Neil Rieck wrote:
>>>> IBM Reportedly Offering $9 to $10 Per Share for Sun
>>>>
>>>> http://www.dailytech.com/IBM+Reportedly+Offering+9+to+10+Per+Share+for+Sun/article14757.htm
>>>
>>> Hhhmmm... Well, since HP just inked a deal to distribute and support
>>> Solaris, I guess that would make rivals IBM and HP business partners.
>>
>> HP dumps HP-UX on itanic (and itanic altogether) and sells Solaris on x86
>> IBM dumps AIX on Power and sells Solaris on Power (after having 
>> incorporated some AIX goodies)
> 
> And just why would IBM want to do that?  Personally, I can't even imagine
> IBM's interest in Solaris at all so I guess Sun must have something else
> of value.  And, compared to Power, I can't see it being Sparc either.

Well - I considered Michaels prediction to be a joke.

It seems obvious to me that IBM wants the market share for servers
and storage. Now. Over time we will see some product consolidation.
But IBM is used to a rather diversified product portfolio. Informix
is a good example of them not being in a hurry to kill products.

My guess would be that AIX and Power will live a few years more
than Solaris and SPARC, but they will need to keep both Solaris and
SPARC for a long time to avoid loosing customer confidence.

Arne