How Is IBM Even Still Around?

I’m sure you’ve all heard about IBM. They’re one of the pioneers of the PC industry, but nowadays, virtually no one uses IBM computers. Yet, IBM is still one of the largest companies in the world with a market cap of over $100 billion, so how does IBM even make money? Well, throughout IBM’s history, they were almost always a B2B company as opposed to a consumer brand. This is quite ironic given that they’re most well known for their PCs in the 1980s, but this was actually the exception for IBM, not the norm. After the dot-com bubble burst, IBM sold off its PC division to Lenovo and they started focusing on their B2B business once again. This consisted of producing server racks, networks, databases, and setting up cloud infrastructure. All of these background functions allowed IBM to rise to prominence once again, but with the rise of competition within these markets, IBM is struggling once again. Their revenues have nearly halved within the past 10 years and it’s not clear if they can compete against the juggernauts like Amazon and Microsoft. This video explains the rise, fall, rise again, and fall again of IBM.
Discord Community:
discord.gg/SJUNWNt
Timestamps:
0:00 - The State Of IBM
2:20 - Founding IBM
5:25 - Industry Leader
8:36 - Painful Failure
11:29 - Resurrection
Thumbnail Credit:
bit.ly/3FH8uqJ
Resources:
pastebin.com/jAqDFJs2
Disclaimer:
This video is not a solicitation or personal financial advice. All investing involves risk. Please do your own research.
www.silomarkets.com/disclosures

[@deeznuts-lj2lv]

Just take a look at their annual report. 42% of their revenue comes from software, 31% from consulting. When a company has been around as IBM, the revenue tail is very long. They have relationships with companies and governments that are older than you. They added 9000 patents just last year alone, bring the total to over 120,000. People who have worked at IBM do things the IBM way-for better or worse, this has kept IBM alive and still deeply engage in today’s market. That’s saying something. They have a working business model that has a century of history behind it. It’s ain’t an Uber or Carvana.

[@ViktorRzh]

You missing one very important part. They have a very good r&d base with a legacy comparable to some big science institutions. They were able to build the first usable quantum computer last decade and have good chances of making them commercially viable this decade.

[@hlaminto2008]

Is this like a shadow company like blackrock? I don't even know they launched computers...😓 what do they produce now?

[@ViktorRzh]

@@hlaminto2008 If I recall correctly. They made architecture for game consoles. You can find a complete list.

[@hlaminto2008]

@@ViktorRzh then again, i wasn't born yet when ibm was booming. I think my dad has a laptop with a ibm logo on it. Has a weird red button on it.

[@otokoncccp]

@@hlaminto2008 to know that, u must be in a high tier IT structure. Thing is, it's an old school company, they don't buy their stocks for their revenue to bust their cost with S&P. U can't imagine, but every time you drive a car, u use their software and company THAT big, they don't need to brand Chinese smartphone, so u appreciate them.

[@benservey9295]

IBM: does something innovative Everyone else: jumps into the market with a more competitive product IBM: leaves market and does something innovative...

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Hahaha

[@quisqueyanguy120]

The history of IBM in a nutshell

[@shadownoobnoobslayer5424]

if u look in any industry most of the time 1st guy have 100% market for some time then when competition shows up in sector he looses he put to much in development and innovation when competition starts by developing next gen product and there fore is always step above 1st guy ...

[@DavidSawe]

@@shadownoobnoobslayer5424 It also helps when, each cycle, all competitors pay the first mover for using his patents when making those competing products. That first mover then recovers R&D costs through its revenue streams generated by patents, more than from the own-brand products actually sold before exiting that market.

[@lucasrem]

Ben Servey IBM was only able to make money on systems, if they sell them for more the $10 k only some users are needing them ! What do Asian people understand? copy it, muhahahaha? China scum need there own system, not copy the west!

[@train_xc]

Simple.. IBM is still profitable and have loads of cash with minimal debt

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Declining revenues though

[@mercury9989]

@@LogicallyAnswered they Quantum Computer That’s really Futuristic compared to Ai they are the closest to putting us to Mars in my opinion But as you are saying in the video they are in decline Because people care more about Tesla

[@videofuel]

Still the company with most patents in the world.

[@train_xc]

@@LogicallyAnswered declining revenues don’t make you bankrupt, but debt do and as of now they’ve minimal

[@paulwhite5066]

@@train_xc Someone appreciates economics. 🧠

[@ZagiBob]

I’m a retired software guy who worked for 35 years on IBM mainframes. Your video is primarily based on the PC market and seems to ignore the impact mainframes had on IBM’s bottom line. So your premise of being surprised IBM is still around does not make sense to me. Still, I enjoyed it 👍

[@nervyblogger4581]

The mainframe made IBM one of the largest companies in the world. During the mainframe era, IBM was in the top two or three largest companies in the world. IBM had more revenue than many countries GDP. IBM did so well because mainframes were very, very expensive. Then when the IBM PC came out, people figured out computing could done without expensive mainframes. IBM shot themselves in the foot when they introduced the PC,

[@tinetannies4637]

​@@nervyblogger4581Yes but IBM had no choice. PCs were coming whether IBM jumped on board or not. And mainframes were going to fade away independent of IBM's actions

[@nervyblogger4581]

I don't completely buy that. IBM never intended on replacing the mainframe with the PC. PCs were cloned almost immediately after the PC was introduced. IBM didn't plan on that. IBM made a major strategic error when they allowed Microsoft to retain all the rights to MS DOS.

[@ZagiBob]

@@tinetannies4637 Mainframes have certainly not faded away, and probably never will. They are the backbone of the WWW.

[@hailahong3021]

@@tinetannies4637 the fuck you mean mainframe will fade away??? any proof?

[@hopelessdecoy]

Mainframes kept IBM in business, even today there are so many mainframes that make the backbone of our digital world.

[@train_xc]

No, it’s actually the consulting business. Mainframes now don’t sell. But they are still selling mainframe services

[@hopelessdecoy]

@@train_xc pretty much most of the financial and medical backbone is mainframe based, %70 of the SP500 uses mainframes last number I saw. They still make new mainframe racks today and sell them. Although today it isn't what keeps them afloat back then it did.

[@Dono0320]

@@hopelessdecoy This is true, mainframes are purpose built for a specific task and when that task requires super low latency for buying and selling stocks. Money knows no bounds...

[@hopelessdecoy]

@@Dono0320 I worked for a bank and we processed 6.2 billion transactions in one black Friday with the mainframe. It's insane how tuned they get for transactional operations!

[@train_xc]

@@hopelessdecoy worked with IBM before, they don’t manufacture anything at this time

[@shadowninja6689]

FYI, the "IBM" of today is essentially the cloud company RedHat that IBM purchased a while ago. The old IBM legacy businesses are now Kyndryl, as IBM spun them off into a separate company around a year ago, and they're down 73% since the spinoff.

[@bobfg3130]

Considering they have a contract with Google, Kyndryl most likely will be fine.

[@davidwillims2004]

hm no. Kyndryl is not the IBM legacy business, its strictly a service company for clients. they manage systems/hardware for clients, when clients to out source that work to others. Kyndryl only supports clients own environments, they dont make the hardware or the OS, Databases, or security software.

[@ajaychebbi]

Not true. Kyndryl is the consulting business. The IBM of today has a large revenue contribution on Software, Cloud, Research and some consulting services. Redhat is one part of IBM - not the whole of IBM.

[@juliansihite1289]

Not really, GBS and GTS are still the legacy from old IBM as the consulting business...

[@rashidisw]

Ah the RedHat, one of those ancient Linux distros.

[@Jeckkz]

IBM lost their way about 10 years ago , but they hold enough patients and other IP that keeps them profitable . They used to be a benchmark in service management in Australia , but poor leadership and decision making led them to offshore everything, and from there things just went backwards.

[@davidshepherd265]

I'd say more 20 years ago......but so long as they continue to have big fat contracts with government, banks and other large businesses they'll be fine.

[@frankchong5585]

Agree with Davidshepherd. 10 yrs ago, they still in mid of cutting here and there.

[@bobfg3130]

You mean patents?

[@theeraphatsunthornwit6266]

Insane. It is not even a hospital.

[@foxboi6309]

Patients, interesting 🤔

[@Errr717]

WTH is this? Not even acknowledging that they were one of the big computer companies in the 50's through 80's with their mainframe computers. The PC was just a small part of their business.

[@johnrobinson3642]

Exactly. And no mention at all of the push into services in the 1990's. The PC was only ever just a small blip on the radar, yet this video tries to sell the idea that the whole business revolved around the PC. Very poor effort @LogicallyAnswered!

[@gwgux]

I grew up around IBM in NY. My late father worked there until the mass layoff in the late 80s and all the friends of the family worked there too. I also worked there for my first IT job out of college and while it would take too long to go into details here, that was hell on earth and I'll never do it again. However, as someone who grew up with the IBM PC before we finally started getting computers from other companies, I'm very thankful for what they've done with the IBM PC and other products they have produced. They are not the same company they used to be for sure by any stretch, but for what they DO make is still significant in the field of computer science. They so far removed from regular consumers that their inventions rarely reach the public eye, and lets be frank, you have to know a bit about computer science to understand what they're doing half the time these days. I think that's why a lot of people question why IBM is still around today. They've made more than a few mistakes over the years and I don't know how much longer they'll hold out given their current direction, but I can say they still make systems that are the lifeblood of many organizations from their mainframes, Linux systems, and AIX (UNIX) systems. I work in the financial industry and our core servers that handle financial transactions for our customers are IBM systems. When we asked the vendor who developed the software to run on it, why they still use IBM as there are cheaper alternatives out there, they said the IBM PPC architecture for processing is something they prefer it and the reliability of IBM support have yet to be beat for this type of task. When people's very lives depend on these financial transactions happening reliably on a system that must be up 24/7 and no downtime is allowed, IBM was still the only company they could rely on. I don't know how much they've looked at others for building the systems to run their software (I personally think they're just IBM fans or just don't want to re-write their code for other hardware), but there ya go. At least one reason why IBM will likely always be around in some form. IBM isn't the household name it once was and I don't think they have any plans to become the household name again, but they are still a big name in the IT space.

[@luisluiscunha]

Why was working there "hell on earth"? Could you please expand a little more?

[@gwgux]

@@luisluiscunha Frequent forced double-shifts. I normally worked 3rd shift, but often had to do 2nd shift and 3rd shift and then 3rd shift and 1st shift the next day. Basically, sleep wasn't something I got a lot of and they didn't care if you got sick from it. Toxic work environment. If you said anything about the work schedule, you were bullied at work. You were expected to be a drone who just did what ever the whim of management had at the time no matter how stupid the decision was and without any opportunity to provide feedback. You know all those memes of bad work environments that people laugh at because they don't thing they could ever be true? Well they do have a root in truth, and it is no laughing matter to be on the receiving end of it IRL. You couldn't even trust the person sitting next to you to not back stab you and force blame on you for something they screwed up on. Big companies like IBM vary greatly in how employees and contractors are treated. I ended up in the bad part of the company in the mid 2000s. Basically in that area, they treated everyone (employees and contractors) as worth less than the pebbles that can get stuck in the soles of your shoes in the parking lot and it seemed worse for the women as they'd be crying somewhere. Turnover was (understandably) very high with most new hires not lasting more than a week. As soon as it became apparent as to what the environment was, they left in a flash. I don't know how IBM treats its employees and contractors now, but my best guess is that the majority of the company isn't that bad as the company does manage to retain workers longer than a week in other departments and the company is still around today. However, that was my first job out of college and to say it was an "education" of what can happen in the real world is an understatement. The mid 2000s was right after the big .COM crash and any IT workers were very much looked down on and the big tech companies were also known to do that. While unofficial and they'll never admit to it, there is a definite cast system at those companies and if you get unlucky to be in the "the other group" when you're hired you can forget about any opportunity for any respect in the company yet alone any chances for career development/training or advancement. You get to sit and watch people who you know aren't any smarter than you get the "good life" while you're looked down on for existing. It's sad, but that's the dark side of working for any big company of IBM's size. All you can do is leave at the first opportunity (like I did) and hope the next company doesn't suck as much until you finally get one that respects you several job changes later. I think most people never have to go through that hell which is why more people laugh at the memes and such, but it really does happen (often worse than the memes) and it's really hard to keep pressing forward when it does.

[@jimatperfromix2759]

All very good comments, @gwgux. Back in the day, IBM was just the place to be for IT people - IBM pretty much ruled the world of computers (maybe hard to imagine in this day of Google and Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure Cloud etc.). When I graduated from university, I (for some strange reason - I don't know why I even thought of this) went to the local IBM office to see what jobs might be available at IBM. They were actually very nice, and via that contact I nearly went to work at IBM's T J Watson research center in upstate New York. That would have actually been cool, but instead I applied at an IBM location in Minnesota where they built the System 38, which had performance issues (that I planned to fix, being a brash young kid and all). That didn't fly, giving perhaps some insight on one of the hellish aspects of IBM. IBM was (at that time) a very formal place, and you had to stick to the company line, and work very hard for a long time to work up the chain til you got into a better, more responsible job. They offered me a job maintaining the Cobol compiler, to which I (effectively) said "gag me with a spoon." Instead I went to work for an IBM competitor (IBMchanged their mind and offered me the job I wanted, but too late, I stuck with my commitment). I found even working for an IBM-market competitor to be a bit stultifying. IBM mainframe people (at the time) just seemed backwards to me, and a horrible operating system to deal with. Maybe these days the IBM mainframe OSes are finally OK, so I won't discourage anyone who wants a job in that field (lots of IBMers retiring, as pointed out), but the Cloud is more fun and exciting. Speaking of Cloud, I'll note that although the video is quite nice in many aspects, especially on the early history (although it skipped the part on how IBM made money selling punched card equipment to Germany in World War II), the cloud talk in the video is misleading at best. The video seemed to give the idea that IBM went straight from punched cards to IBM PCs - only briefly mentioning a couple models of mainframes preceding the IBM 360/370 series. And rhen it seemed to go right from mainframes and PCs to IBM seemingly inventing the Cloud. IBM pretty much did not invent the Cloud, however in the last 10 years or so they are pushing their IBM Cloud services big-time and have some good products there. In terms of cloud revenue, they are probably about 4th or 5th - behind AWS and Google and Microsoft Azure, but perhaps at about the level of Oracle. I agree with others that IBM will probably hang in there for quite a long while. They have the mainframe business and a big consulting business (they didn't sell that off when I wasn't looking, did they?). Their best asset is their research. They own more patents than any other company, and they file more new patents each year than any other company. Ironically, that's part of their downfall. They invent stuff (i.e., their Q current quantum computing research is cool) and even bring products to market, bit in the long run, other companies do a better job at cloning those products and taking over those markets. I don't see anyone beating them at the mainframe market though. Amdahl tried that once and failed.

[@gwgux]

@@jimatperfromix2759 Nice comment and I agree. IBM is still great at inventing things, but they fall short at making them commercially viable which is why the competitors swoop in and corner the market with their clones, or someone comes in with a more practical and less expensive solution to the IBM propriety one. Like what happened with token ring vs Ethernet for the LAN.

[@happytravelling]

IBM dominated the large computer systems business market for decades. I worked at IBM during the summers many years ago and we were told this story. The US govt wanted to buy systems for the census - there were 2 companies that could do it - IBM and Univac. There was a power failure that affected both systems and the deadline was approaching to deliver. Both IBM and Univac sent planeloads of people to fix the systems - they were susceptible to power failures. Only the IBM team completed the task on time. Not because they got their systems working, but because IBM had sent a team of accountants as well as engineers. You never heard of Univax after that event. It was the accountants that completed the task. My uncle was among those sent to work there. THAT is why IBM dominated the industry for so long. They didn't just sell machines, they sold solutions. Given all the years that they developed technology, they built a massive patent portfolio that serves as their main intellectual property portfolio and a large portion of their income.

[@Lafly84]

That was the thing about IBM back in the day - you got the hardware, and the total price was expensive, but part of that price was unparalled software and rechnical support tailored to your company. I think that may have contributed to the hit they took in the PC market - they were used to dealing with the 360 series for example and looked at everything from a corporate/government angle and scale. I imagine even the Selectric line was part of that, I don't know if they were ever marketed to the average consumer. I grew up in an IBM town, many family and friends worked there, and there was a definite IBM way of doing things. Today's tech workers would be totally traumatized lol.

[@frankgerlach4467]

univac turned into unisys ? Still exists...

[@robertlook1]

Back when large enterprise machines were all mainframes there was IBM and the seven dwarves. Also the original poster did not mention the importance of Ethernet versus TokenRing. The software battles of database companies, word processing companies(Wang), spreadsheet companies(Lotus 123). The influence of UNIX and open source…

[@jonathancollard3710]

I worked at IBM in mid 1980’s and then Unisys in early 1990’s. Both were very flawed entities that had an arrogance borne from decades of being “the 800lb gorilla” and market dominance with 85% margins on mainframe sales. When DEC and Sun rocked up, they ate our lunch, with Compac and Dell mopping up the crumbs.

[@truly747]

Key to note however is where IBM has no brand loyalty with consumers, they have insane loyalty and branding with enterprise. They've got some of the best support + are better equipped to handle enterprise customers than most of their competitors, which keeps them strong. They also still do innovate a bit (they have the first real viable quantum computer), and imo are potentially poised to do quite well. They also kicked out most of the baggage into Kyndryl, leaving them (IBM) leaner and more focused.

[@jim90272]

The driving force behind IBM has always been its salesmen. IBM salesmen were the best in the world, and they were extremely successful when selling to large corporate customers. But their marketing was just too expensive to sell anything to consumers, or even to small businesses. IBM's business model worked spectacularly well when mainframes were the only game in town, but fell apart when PCs began taking over jobs once handled by mainframes.

[@mosog8829]

The electronic world is very dynamic. But I still admire them for their innovation.

[@onexoxtoo]

They were the first with virtualization, VM

[@gijbuis]

I first started as a software engineer in 1971. In 1974 my employer (University of Amsterdam) allowed me to take home an IBM 5100 to hone my programming skills. But nobody remembers this fantastic machine any more. IBM became really well known with their first IBM PC in 1981 (I was in Las Vegas at the time when skywriters wrote "Thanks a million" celebrating the fact that IBM sales had just exceeded a million PCs.

[@vritrakanha]

Do you still hold onto these beasts IBM 5100?

[@gijbuis]

Unfortunately not! But it was a great machine... really the first PC!@@vritrakanha

[@semuhphor]

I remember. Basic and APL (whose code looks like a Martian phonebook). I remember the tape drive in the machine used for storage. Also, from what I understand, under the covers its machine code was similar to IBM's mainframe machine code. The System Source museum in Maryland has one of these in working condition. When I went there a month or two ago for a visit by @usagielectric, we wrote "HELORLD" program in APL. Fun.

[@cashmere6552]

IBMer here :) The company at the moment, in my opinion, is looking at a more brighter future. Arvind has really focused on cutting loose some of IBMs annoying aspects and improving others, taking engineers away from time consuming patent work, allowing IBM softwares to be run on AWS marketplace, focusing IBM Cloud development etc. they have a ways to go but the atmosphere in the company is a lot more optimistic. IBM also went through some rebranding, spinning off GTS, and renaming GBS to IBM Consulting. The focus of the company is now the hybrid cloud market, which was the reason for the RedHat acquisition and make it clear to customers what the company actually sells.

[@jamieturner1244]

Hybrid = complexity = high cost... the opposite of what clients are looking for. IBM should drop this from their branding as they look ignorant imo... It would be wise for them to hire a new marketing company, learn how to GTM, learn how to market/sell innovation better, and take some notes from MS, AWS, Google.

[@cashmere6552]

@@jamieturner1244 Fully on-cloud solutions are way more expensive. AWS, Azure and GCP are very good at marketing their cloud businesses as somehow cheaper this way, but it’s definitely not. Not having cloud is disadvantageous, and the main clients looking for hybrid cloud solutions are business with heavily regulated workloads, like banks. IBM isn’t competing with hyperscalers, they are pretty clear about their strategy with IBM cloud, providing regulated workloads and financial services, with highly customisable bare metal configurations.

[@chrisbirmele835]

I worked at IBM in the early 2000's and even back then soon realised it was a dinosaur of a company. We had security guards handing out red post-it notes if anyone - during lunchtime - left papers on the desk or forgot to lock the laptop to the desk (with a steel cable!). Mind you this was on a secure floor, you couldn't get in without a pass .... Hated the place and left after 3 years, joined Microsoft for eleven years - what a breadth of fresh air! Hands down the best time of my career.

[@edamb1]

At 7:59 into this it mentions the IBM 1403 computer. The 1403 was an impact line printer.

[@TW-lt1vr]

Low-key was kinda surprised to even see this as a question. IBM is one of those companies that doesn't go away, they just get bigger and pull strings from the shadows.

[@tycooperaow]

Like AT&T and CocaCola

[@1MinuteFlipDoc]

IBM was and is a big government contractor.

[@davidwillims2004]

@@1MinuteFlipDoc well there are lots of government contracts, and lots more contracts for many businesses worldwide

[@monztunes6850]

​@tycooperaow fucking hate cocacolas distributor. I do structured cabling and they are our biggest client but they are a pain in the ass.

[@rayoflight62]

IBM remain the consulting partner of choice for many Institutions. They could pivot to research and high-tech applications once more, in the sector of nuclear fusion; Google is also in the fusion sector, but they are limited to the study of plasma dynamics, while IBM has a generalist approach: you may recall, they build the computer and all the hardware which piloted the Saturn V automatically- and it never failed, even when stuck by a lightning upon the Apollo XII launch...

[@rayoflight62]

PS. IBM built a 1 GHz clock computer in 1980, using Josephson junctions. I believe they still have an edge in the advanced research sector...

[@TheBooban]

Yes, this is the answer. IBM has a deep history with corporations and are system integrators of systems they don’t even own. You go to one place, IBM and they will get everything for you. And then they will slowly buy alternative software that mimics the ones they are installing and then recommend installing their choice. Microsoft is also a one stop shop. Corporate signs contract with them for all their services, cutting off other products which are better. That’s a moat.

[@TheReaper-fq6yv]

The Apollo Guidance Computer, responsible for piloting the Saturn V, the Command Module and the Landing Module were developed by MIT. Not IBM.

[@davidwillims2004]

@@TheBooban well having been in IBM service before, most of the time the client chooses what they want to use for their project (since they are paying for it, they decide it. while IBM may make some suggestions, its just that suggestions. services will use what the client wants to use)

[@frankgerlach4467]

@@davidwillims2004: Meanwhile MSFT builds a solution which can be installed by the customer himself.

[@dmac7128]

IBM's core hardware has always been mainframes even during the PC revolution. (they have had their hands in many other critical products like semiconductors and hard drives) They continue in this space with the z-series of mainframes, the latest iteration of which specializes in artificial intelligence at the chip level. They bear little resemblance to earlier ones like the System 360 at the hardware level. For a hundred year old company, its extraordinary that they continue to be relevant in today's environment. Its a testament to their ability to adapt to changing markets and identify and adopt key technologies to meet customer demands.

[@rohitghali]

I've seen many companies use IBM's cloud services. IBM is also leaps and bounds ahead in the quantum race. They released an SDK to write code for their quantum computers. You can hire their quantum computers and start running programs just like a regular cloud service. They basically have their own place in the market. I think they'll survive. Let's see.

[@dmora2309]

Well, the first 2 positions in cloud are AWS and Azure, the third position is for Google or Oracle, the rest nobody cares (IBM is competing in this segment), cloud is a business of scale, if you have more clients your cost reduce and you can get even more clients, in some point neither Google or Oracle will be competitive (IBM never was), I don’t see a future for IBM, something good I can say about them is IBM is a plus hundred years company, statistically most of the biggest companies now will not survive that long, they were very bad for the innovation in IT for so much time in other hand they used to be innovative, they were soooooo expensive but also reliable partners, right now the IBM cost isn’t justify, there’s lots of better options and all are cheaper.

[@Asante-9ii]

@@dmora2309 Mainframes kept IBM in business, even today there are so many mainframes that make the backbone of our digital world.

[@dmora2309]

@@Asante-9ii Yes mainframe is the backbone for banks and big companies even today, but also today we have finally alternatives, cloud, Hadoop, etc. with some issues no doubt but also at a fraction of the cost, with a good implementation those are more scalable.

[@Asante-9ii]

@@dmora2309 do yo think that cloud can be the alternatives of Mainframe computing? because mainframe are so much powerful in term of large transaction and statistics , even quantum computer ,semiconductor

[@dmora2309]

@@Asante-9ii You are absolutely correct, cloud cannot replace the mainframe, neither Hadoop or any other technology alone, but a combination of those technologies can, the banks or assurance companies hesitate to change most of their systems so they keep the very expensive mainframes till they don’t, I mean most of those mainframe depending companies are actively looking for less expensive tech to replace mainframe and IBM in general, I am working to replace Websphere with Tomcat running in AWS in a big company, lots of companies are doing this.

[@michelleshaw337]

IBM was always much more than its desktop PC business. It had its hands in every line of corporate computing you can think of - from hardware to software, consulting services, systems design, etc. The 5150 was more or less a throw-away design until it sold like hotcakes on them (the old IT adage used to be “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM”). IBM expected it to fail, and had no real plan for it to fit into their product range - which meant that the PC division was always a bit of a random appendage. As long as it made them money, they hung around, but IBM really didn’t understand that part of the market - which is why nobody really blinked when they sold the whole thing off to Lenovo. By that point in time, IBM was getting out of the hardware game except for its mainframe business (which remains incredibly profitable for them because there’s one thing big mainframes do really well: transaction processing - and banking and credit card business is huge. While few people interact directly with mainframes anymore, they’re still there, and they still have a niche that they are valuable in. Add to that a services side business that has been around for decades, helping customers with integration and custom software needs, IBM isn’t going away anytime soon.

[@robertlee6338]

Just retired 45 years in IBM. I was a high sahool graduate working on type writter assembly, with IBM help went back to University to graduate with Bachelor of Computer Science, than back to work on their production line after a dacade was given my opportunity to do Graduate studies. 60 retired with PhD, my family owes a lot to IBM and I am gratefull as a kid from a farm worker to owning a 20,000 acre Kansas

[@richardfoglia7636]

Great story Bob thanks for sharing wow that's a long career. Just made a comment myself.

[@rb6342]

IBM is present in the mainframe and midrange servers: Z, Power, etc

[@Aerex12]

As a person working for IBM, the company is focusing on providing a secure and compliant cloud infrastructure for enterprise customer. The cloud used to be called Bluemix where the company to be an every man cloud like AWS and AppEngine but that didn't work. Now it is just called IBM Cloud.

[@oldnepalihippie]

As a retired IBMer (1999) I agree with most of the comments below and what was shown in the vid. But here are a few more observations, from someone who started on the 5150 and ended working on OS/2 Warp. IBM was never a consumer-oriented company, even during the PC years. IBM Sales had clients with revenue dwarfing what the collective of consumers was spending on home PCs. Back then, very few homes had computers, other than enthusiasts. Regardless, we built solid machines, even the IBM Thinkpad was decent back in the day, but IBM could not compete with what was coming out of Japan and China. Even with all the Robotic Manufacturing at Boca Raton, which was a marvel in itself back in the early 90s. Another line of products I got involved with (and loved was Printers. I still remember helping the first IBM 3820 mix graphics and text on the same page. That was like a moon-landing moment for us and spawned an age of "Desktop Publishing" for the world. Unfortunately, the consumer printers were crap and mostly outsourced engineering. But then again, IBM did not care, they were making millions selling larger printers to their existing and vast corporate base. The craziest project I worked on was IBM Try and Buy, which was encrypted software that was loaded onto standard CDs and unlocked by calling a 1=800 number. Marketing simply consisted of dropping boatloads of CDs from helicopters (metaphorically speaking). Even games and kid's stuff, sourced from all over! It was the first-ever app store. Unfortunately for the team, the internet hit with online porno sites, complete with online billing. That seemed to catch everyone by surprise, and instantly killed the project. Overall, IBM was a great place to work from the 70s to the 90s, but not a place to get rich off a paycheck. The pay was averaged over companies like HP and MS, with us getting just a little more than the baseline. But the culture was good, very family-oriented, and decent for the time. Sexism and racism were not tolerated, and I was working from home way back in the 80s. To keep good employees, managers gave a lot of freedom for folks to grow a career, doing something they liked and were good at. Plus, I always felt I was working at NASA or someplace that was in the biz for more than the buck (I was that gullible back then). Still, coming from the US government, I felt a little like a public servant of technology. Especially when working on HTML and early browsers; we thought the Internet would change the world - for the better! Oh well...

[@anthonypeterson5618]

Thx IBM. As a telephone tech for a new entity in n.y. on weekends having access to the company office I would teach myself how to use the IBM 5150. Later learned BASIC then 5 years following enrolled in programming and operations tech school. What a journey.

[@johnl2727]

I bought an IBM PC from Sears Business Systems in 1981-82. I paid almost $3,000 including a monitor and ancillary internal parts.

[@alpaykasal2902]

I love it when Commdore PETs and Commodore 64s make their way into non Commodore videos :) there are a few shots sprinkled in here

[@ijustawannaprivicie8031]

IBM succeeded in the PC market because of Lotus 1-2-3 which was written for DOS, and quickly got adopted in the business world ("nobody was ever fired for buying IBM"). Spreadsheets fueled a ton of mergers and hostile takeovers of the 80s. Apple and other home PC makers (commodore) eventually lost to Windows as home users bought PCs because their business used it. Apple had a niche market in desktop publishing and commodore in video editing, but they sputtered out by the early 90s. Apple had a resurgence in the late 90s and more so with the iPhone. But DOS/Windows being so widely available on a ton of cheaper hardware is why the PC took off, but the IBM PCs were very expensive compared to the apple and Commodore (the two main competitors).

[@TheBooban]

Depends what you mean by desktop publishing, but Apple never lost it’s niche amongst designers.

[@EHiggins]

No one where I worked ever used Lotus. I worked for the phone company. Everyone had it on their PC's and one knew what to do with it XD They sold a tons of copies no one used.

[@ijustawannaprivicie8031]

@@TheBooban By 1985, the trend was GUI systems and Apple and Commodore (along w/ Atari and others) released their new flagship systems. Apple lost much of its initial market share except with graphic designers largely because of Pagemaker. Commodore thrived because it was cheap (and the C-64 was huge in Europe). But DOS/Windows took close to 80-90% of the home market by the mid 90s because that's what businesses adopted due to the business software and people could take their work home with them. The mac survived because it created a cottage industry first with designers mostly with desktop publishing and then everything else Adobe produced.

[@ijustawannaprivicie8031]

@@EHiggins Your personal experience may be that, but it's widely considered to be the first killer app. Plenty has been written about it over the years and how it significantly contributed to PC sales and market dominance.

[@johnl2727]

VisiCalc for the Apple II was the breakthrough to spreadsheets. The problem though was that it only worked in the Apple and the IBM PC was gaining momentum because of its "business" mystique. Lotus 1-2-3 came to the market emphasizing a button down image.

[@alsnow3582]

I enjoyed the video but there is so much more to IBM than presented. For example, they dominated the typewriter business and built some of the best machines ever created. They designed and manufactured CPUs for themselves and even for competitors in the mainframe world. They engineered enterprise software that is still in common use today (MQ-Series). On the PC front, they figured out how to fulfill Bill Gates' vision of a "computer in every home". The design was open unlike Apple. That's what made it possible for a huge number of "IBM clones" to exist and really changed the world. Imagine how different things would today if that didn't happen and IBM chose to own the technology.

[@ps5hasnogames55]

IBM's PC design was *not* open. They sued and fought to keep the PC architecture to themselves but lost becuase Compaq's design was clean reverse engineering.

[@briansomething5987]

@@ps5hasnogames55 the architecture was open, the BIOS was copyrighted

[@kmath50]

Yes. No mention of the the Typewriters. They also made keypunch machines to create cards.

[@richardfoglia7636]

Not too mention owning many many patents.

[@mhcolbert]

I spent the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's at IBM and I still love this company to this day! They were a sharp, classy and kind company and i will always have many fond memories of my years at IBM! Go big blue!

[@3namesjames]

There's another significant impact IBM machines had during World War 2 that you left out... and I'm sure IBM would be happy we didn't know.

[@davidwillims2004]

lets see, made weapons during the war, just like about about %70 of companies back then. oh and the worked with doctor who wanted them to build heart and lung machines. and they did that during ww2. till a few years after the war

[@dreamfunction4491]

More lies .

[@jimatperfromix2759]

I'll repeat the correct answer (which I previously noted) since nobody guessed the answer yet. IBM boosted the World War II effort for Hitler by selling Germany lots of tabulating equipment and punched cards. They also sold these to the U.S. for its war effort, I guess. I suppose we're just darn lucky that IBM had not invented the mainframe yet. Kinda hard for Hitler's A-bomb researchers to do bomb design and nuclear explosion simulations on punched cards.

[@dreamfunction4491]

@@jimatperfromix2759 Absolute nonsense you are spouting. The entire history of WW2 has been fabricated to favor the victors which are the Rothschilds. You are full of lies and deception. The masses are waking up to your machinations.

[@fsaldan1]

​@@jimatperfromix2759Nonsense. The computations for the atomic bomb were not done on mainframes.

[@rysw19]

This video only makes sense as even a question if you think that all IBM ever did is make PCs.

[@pitsogaohose2444]

As someone who is in fintech i know how big is IBM in our industry, they own Red Hat which has about 70% market cap on Linux enterprise distribution, not mentioning their own Unix OS AIX and also their storage clustering solution Spectrum scale or GPFS is the most prefered storage clustering software, IBM is still pretty big they operate on an enterprise level

[@afpwebworks]

I’ve been in and around the IT industry nearly all my working life. From 1976 at least I’ve seen the road littered with companies that thought having a lower price would beat IBM just like THAT! IBM have lived by the Tom Watson thought process of finding solutions to customers problems rather than what they look down on -the ‘box movers’ The people at IBM don’t sell computers. Not the experienced ones anyway. They get inside the customers business and understand how it functions. They look for ways to improve the customers methods or lower their costs, or increase the customers productivity. When they take that approach the price of RAM or network routers or server hardware is almost incidental I heard an IBM guy describing IBM not as a computer company but as a system integrator. He saw the company not as selling truckloads of boxes to the customers but as helping customers make more profit “&Yes, I know your proposal is $150:000 cheaper, but IBM is going to make us $5 million more profit each year, even though it costs more in the first year”

[@stevelam5898]

IBM is in B2B markets, their clients are mostly large corporates. So they do sell mid and high end hardware, not consumer products. Plus (a lot of) services. The big differentiator for IBM however, is its Research. Their expertise in every aspect of IT, is still unmatched by anyone else around.

[@toresbe]

This video has quite a few errors and a very strange choice of focus. To take just one especially glaring error, the 1403 wasn't even a computer - it was the 1401's printer.

[@cindylee2379]

You should have done a lot of research into the mainframe market, where IBM dominates. PCs were always a sideline for IBM, one the senior management never wanted to get into.

[@MrTom23]

having worked on ibm a few years ago, I can say for sure there are aspects where they pushing to innovate on, but they are stuck in time in others.

[@Lupinicus1664]

I worked with IBM mainframes for more than 25 years, during which time they invented many of the technical innovations modern computers rely on. It should also be stressed that when we say 'PC' we are really saying IBM PC as they created the standard for the personal computer as well. Unfortunately for them they totally failed to appreciate the impact of the internet. As the net began in the 90s a single IBM mainframe could have provided email services to the entire US population. They could have been the first to completely index the entire internet and provide search facilities but they totally failed to grasp what was happening. They finally spotted the opportunities for cloud computing but too late to stop MS, Amazon and Google from dominating that sphere as well. Technically they are still a leader (e.g. quantum computing) but their management has been woeful for decades.

[@mr.alkenly889]

They also just invented a new type of computing, light computing which competes with the upcoming quantum computing and they are also making quantum computers

[@bloqk16]

I temporarily worked at IBM as a contract employee in the early 1980s. I was most impressed with the staff's professionalism and even-temperament. It was remarkable to know of several married couples in the same building complex; but since they worked in separate divisions, there were no workplace conflicts and no nepotism or favoritism. At that time when men's dress fashions were leaning towards striped dress-shirts, the joke going around was that for a guy to be hired by IBM, they had to ditch those striped dress shirts and start wearing white dress shirts.

[@fsaldan1]

I remember that white dress shirts were standard at IBM

[@ThePhillrow]

IBM exited the PC market years ago. They are still large in servers, software and backend type systems. It seems that you know very little about IBM as it is now.

[@Stopinvadingmyhardware]

They’re a world leader in enterprise level server deployment. They own the rights to the most advanced fabrication process being used currently.

[@nufosmatic]

8:47 - Why is there a Commodore Pet in a room surrounded by tape drives?

[@danielvasquez3758]

Glad to see you again brother!! Hope you have an amazing week!!

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Thank you Daniel! You too!

[@mikeschmitty4438]

nice new intro's, i see you steppin up the game. Keep making moves, this channel deserves it!

[@jasonwolny7412]

My Grandfather was a top scientist and executive with IBM since its earliest days. He led a team of other scientists to reduce the size of the microchip. He was on the cover of Time magazine for it.

[@mariusj8542]

I spent several years at IBM as a developer. While it's not always immediately apparent, IBM invests heavily in research. This, alongside their rigorous business governance and a century's worth of strategic and tactical business knowledge, forms a powerful synergy. Despite experiencing various mistakes and fluctuations, I believe IBM's capacity for transformation and adaptation is significant.

[@give_me_my_nick_back]

Customer electronics has always been just a small fraction of IBM operations, enterprise is the real money so they just focused more on their main target

[@dutchuncle2716]

I see IBM coming back. In the consumer market they didn't have much brand loyalty, but in the corporate and governance markets they do have that in abundance. Their longstanding relations in those sectors generate opportunities for their consulting business. If a company or government don't who is the best one to hire for a tech consulting job, they'll probably go for IBM. They have maintenance contracts, and patents that give them a steady predictable revenue flow. This gives them something to lean on while they reinvent themselves to rise ones more during the next technology boom.

[@kurttate9446]

Long ago during IBM's heyday it was said "Nobody ever got fired for choosing IBM products".

[@emmaisalone]

What are you talking about? IBM is already a dominant force in mainframes and is also very big in AI. They are already here and big.

[@GalaxieRepairGroupLLC]

Myself having family in the higher ranks of the IBM company I can say that nowadays IBM makes most of its money by selling server storage to the healthcare industry such as the MDAnderson Cancer Research Institute and other large hospitals that require the ability to store massive amounts of patient data and other information. These institutes and universities sign contracts with IBM buying massive amounts of tape storage from the company. As many people know IBM pulled out of the personal computer market years ago and is now mainly a software and bulk server storage vendor focused company.

[@josephvanname3377]

IBM 1989: TIME SPACE TRADEOFFS IN REVERSIBLE COMPUTATION. IBM 2023: reversible compootin? wats dat?

[@xuimod]

If I'm not mistaken IBM invented Bluetooth. So IBM makes a little bit of money for every Bluetooth device out there. And that is probably billions of the devices. With hundreds of millions of devices being made every year.

[@philipmurphy2]

Always worth viewing a Logically Answered video for sure.

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Thank you Philip!

[@zeruchofficial]

The question belies one fairly oblique but known aspect of SV insiders: among tech companies, IBM is the only firm that has "pivoted" or transformed itself not once (like MSFT, Oracle) but over a half dozen times. It's an amoeba that has come under pressure and transformed itself over and over again. The PC market has never been it's "one trick pony". One of its biggest elements is its patent portfolio, which it still leverages immensely. No one else in tech has lived even half of IBMs lifetime. Whether that makes it a good form or not is subject to immense debate.

[@sutterpark]

This place will NEVER go away! IBM its still strong in some parts but they place cheap crap on their PC! It can be expensive on few items

[@gijsv8419]

In Europe IBM was the favorite brand in the 80's. Seen as very reliable. They had golden connecters on the motherboard. Dell had an excellent mix of price and performance. My third Dell, bought in 2004, got problems in 2022.

[@eone199]

damn i love IBM thinkpad laptops, they are simply durable, unique and innovative...even their keyboard are really comfortable to use

[@nslouka90]

Very unlikely you use an IBM computer everyday but they make a huge difference behind the scenes at your work, school or favorite gaming and shopping hub.

[@se38005]

Every time you do any financial transaction, use your credit card, use an ATM machine etc, you are using IBM computers.

[@qwill8254]

Had a client last yr from IBM . Didn't know how big the company was and what it actually does ...

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Hahaha

[@omarandati874]

Do not underestimate anyone, while all industries fear the end of Silicon technology, IBM can introduce something so light and new

[@exposingproxystalkingorgan4164]

IBM has many contracts and patents they can license to other companies as income stream. They have lots of money to buy up other companies to work for them to create new products.

[@A_kiwis_view]

Not a well researched article. It missed all of IBM'S history from the 370, System/3, System/32 and early attempts at a personal computer. The change came in September 1980 when a decision was made to proceed with a project to get a personal computer to the market in 12 months. To achieve this all of IBM'S standard procedures were abandoned to buy off the shelf components rather than own manufacture of all components. This meant abandoning EBCDIC IBM'S proprietary code and software and adopt ASCII as the hardware code base. This allowed other companies to develop clones of the PC. Bill Gates' master stroke was to provide two versions of the operating software- PC DOS and MS DOS for the clones. IBM fought back with a new OS but it was not adopted and Windows fprovided a fatal blow.

[@nufosmatic]

10:44 - On this point there really wasn't that much difference between the IBM PC and Dell computers - the IBM PC was the the old "build everything" scheme IBM followed, but used commerically available parts from wherever.

[@entropy2002]

In my way younger years while working my way through college I worked as a computer operator for a data processing company serving about a dozen banks. We originally used a Burroughs B-3500, a pretty poor 'system'. About a year or 2 later we inherited a very used IBM 360 - 40 from another division, which was a HUGE improvement over the Burrhog -MUCH more reliable.

[@voidstar1337]

I was once in Vegas around 2010 and notice some slot machines being served. I watched the tech open the machine and saw he had booted it up to OS/2. I used OS/2 WARP a year before Windows 95, and OS/2 was far superior in every way. One thing about using niche (or obsolete) operating systems, you get a bit of security by less people knowing anything about it (OS/9 for the Tandy systems also fall in that category- another multi-tasking OS from the 1980s). I also suspect IBM software and systems are largely used to run the stock markets (on the first diagnostic cassette tape for the 5150, the demo program for the async IO -- it demo'd dialing into the Dow Jones to check ticker prices). // Also in August 1985 was a catastrophe for IBM when Delta Flight 191 crashed due to an undetected wind sheer - a very tragic event due to the number of IBM personnel (and their families) on that flight (and then that was followed up a few months later in the January 1986 Challenger accident). Hard to say which direction IBM would have gone if that Delta 191 tragedy hadn't happened (lost a lot of technical and marketing folks). // The (fictional) TV Series Halt and Catch Fire represents Big Blue "lawyer'ing up" after their PC BIOS had been copied -- but in the real world, we forget how the Government went after IBM in 1975 (Sherman Act violations for bundling capabilities). IBM had to defend themselves for years (charges dropped in 1982). IBM, like most of the mega-corps, can limp along just on earned interest of past work. It's like a form of Corporate Inheritence that the government isn't too interested in stopping. Profit doesn't much matter.

[@johnbyrne9900]

I worked on OS/2 as a central hub for a chain of large full-service restaurants. It was vastly superior to Windows NT at the time and used far less resources like memory and CPU. We consolidated three PC computers into a single box running OS/2. Our central systems were AS/400's, another fantastic platform still alive today as IBM i. And all of this was EXTREMELY RELIABLE!!!

[@h.mandelene3279]

@@johnbyrne9900 When IBM ironed out the kinks in OS2, it was a nice OS. Their mistake is selling a copy for several 100$ while Microsoft sold Windows for 100 if not included on a PC. From a marketing side, that was dumb. Nobody would pay that much for a new OS with very few apps when they are used to windows and have apps for Windows already. If they gave it out for free for a while, I think it would have captured a decent market share.

[@campbellmorrison8540]

Just because IBM doesn't sell small computers doesn't mean they don't sell computers, much of the large mainframe super computers are IBM and are made by them. As previously mentioned IBM is into software and R&D patents. They are far from dead just very different to when I worked for IBM.

[@oneito947]

I have been asking myself the same question, thanks for the video

[@CIS101]

I worked for IBM Global Services division which was previously a subsidiary, ISSC. I was eventually laid off because the customer account I was on was dying a slow death. I believe the current consulting organization replaced what was Global Services. Anyway, the video was very informative, and a good reminder of IBM's historical significance.

[@nataliealliepage7155]

IBM's biggest mistake was their 5150 personal computer, a design built more-or-less with off-the-shelf components that was bound to be reverse-engineered within the boundaries of the law. During its heyday, the 5150 popularized a processor design that IBM didn't even make - The X86-based Intel 8088.

[@jimbojimbo6873]

IBM is just a wrapper name of many smaller companies now, the traditional software and consulting business has gone completely

[@fusionsid270]

bruh i legit was wondering this yesterday and now you made a video about it :)

[@LogicallyAnswered]

What a coincidence!

[@lencumbow]

Germany used IBM tabulating machines, too. Not just for the war efforts, but for everyday accounting in many businesses.

[@thomaslisankie342]

The P/E ratio is too high. Once it falls significantly, another company should buy them because their assets are certainly still valuable enough to be worth owning. If their quantum play works out though, maybe they'll have a rebirth.

[@LogicallyAnswered]

A lot of that has to do with their recent quarter being bad too though. If they’re financials recover over the next few quarters, their P/E ratio should be much better

[@davidwillims2004]

be sort of expensive to buy them, but who knows some one might

[@PatrickDKing]

I kind of wondered that too since I personally haven't seen anything with an IBM logo on it in over a decade. However, I know some IT people at large companies that say they spend multiple millions to hire IBM for various things. I also learned that they are basically the only go to for super large infrastructure like mainframes. I'd imagine even though we don't see "IBM" on many things that they are still profiting from licensing technologies. Take LG for instance, they made nice phones but basically failed and left that market but they made the iphone screens that won awards for their beauty, LG also makes/made OLED panels for the highest end most highly reviewed Sony Bravia Master series TVs, so I'm sure there's a bunch of IBM innovation in a lot of things - we just don't see it. It doesn't hurt having over $16 billion in CASH either, you could basically invest that and do nothing and still make ridiculous profits.

[@DavidLange1492]

They've pushed out their most knowledgeable employees and seek low paid young new hires. The company is a house of cards at best. It's unfortunate, but they over charge for their popular products for example Mainframe software, AIX, MQseries, for example to a degree that people run away to alternatives. The problem with IBM has been the management, lack of foresight and pure greed.

[@randomeman3]

At my workplace we still use IBM products. It runs our backend.

[@wisenber]

You missed the IBM typewriters which were present in virtually every office in the US for over half a century. IBM was in the business machine market and date processing, not just computers. "Data processing" was comprised mainly of typewriters and adding machines up to the 1980s, and IBM dominated those fields. The reason why IBM has been able to remain relevant for a century is that they sell solutions not commodities. The consumer PC market was always going to be a commodity. While Dell and Gateway were selling cheap low margin PCs to consumers and smaller businesses, IBM was selling their PCs with emulation cards that allowed their PCs to talk to their mainframes and minis. After the 360 was introduced, hardware wasn't their main profit driver. Software, support and services made up the majority of revenue. IBM has also made about a third of the fastest super-computers ever produced and among the leaders in quantum computing development. If IBM succeeds with pioneering quantum computing, their application will make AI jealous. IBM survived because they were never a PC company. IBM has been incredibly adaptive in navigating cycles of development, adoption and decline and not missing the next new technology.

[@jonfreeman9682]

That's a bit too much praise but then again for them to be one of only three companies to survive so long is a testament to their adaptability. But you're right they're mostly a services business mostly outsourcing IT for companies.

[@wisenber]

@@jonfreeman9682 Service, cloud, super-computing, software, quantum computing and research are their primary areas now. It doesn't appear that the the writer of this was aware of their reputation with typewriters, timeclocks and printing for decades before they came out with the XT or how many of the world's fastest super-computers they've made. I don't think anyone would argue that IBM timed everything optimally or had the most accurate crystal ball. However, framing them as mostly a PC company really doesn't reflect where they've been and what they are now either.

[@richardfoglia7636]

My first manager who hired me as a temp was a manager for the selectrics. Never forget how she turned off the phone when it rang during the interview showing me a level of respect I had never experienced. Eventually staying on for 10 years. RIP Betty.

[@wojciechsobiesiak]

Because my friends to stay "alive" You need several things. 1) Product 2) Service 3) Tools 4) Methods 5) Consciousness.

[@clausjepsen3505]

IBM is frontrunner on Quantum computing way in front of Google and Nvidia. They keep their roadmap and results are fed into their Z-series. Already now, IBM secure their customers Z-machines against future decryption of codes! That's worth a lot for their clients.

[@caver38]

IBM does not make a lot of noise about what it does , unlike many companies , it just gets on with its research , and selling its top of the line products. Even socalled experts do not realise that mainframes are necessary in many areas , and cannot be replaced by multiple servers.

[@user-yo2cy3nv4b]

Layoffs is what keeps ibm alive.

[@1311121712]

It is all about growth. The SW revenue needs to grow significantly if they were to survive. I expect them to divest Consulting group in the next couple of years similar to Kyndryl. Most of the SW portfolio is really old and needs to modernize fast. Mainframe will be around for probably an other decade which brings in most of the revenue as it allows them to push a lot of SW through very large ELAs. Cloud and new SW startups are eating into IBMs revenue fast. Arvind did great but he is old and can not stay in that position for more than a few years. The next CEO will be super critical to the IBMs future.

[@purvalvikani754]

Have you ever heard about IBM Z CPU? Take a look at that, it's 60yrs old architecture and still thriving in the market. They have a monopoly in mainframe CPUs. No wonder why they are still thriving and will keep thriving.

[@christopher9727]

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@jigme0509]

Having worked for IBM and particularly during the PC launch years, I believe the price of the PC had nothing to do with the demise of the IBM PC, neither IBM R&D or IBM laboratories. PS/2 (and OS/2) was a far superior product than MSDOS PC's. In my opinion there were three causes: the attitude of IBM's own sales and technical force, being S/360 (S/390). They held a lot of status in the company and their 'arrogant' attitude towards consumer products was really rife. Second, the IBM support infrastructure used for PC's was the same they used for mainframe support, totally inadequate for the demands of the market, but IBM refused to change that. The third reason (to me) is the most important one: IBM insisted to sell the PC as a general use device (for office) and forgot to specialise in graphics and other features that a young generation would die for.

[@elkiton]

Yep, i worked for them too. Did a project to put Linux + Intel +Oracle on a super resilient multi server system, worked like a dream, pull any card, seamless transfer and fail over. Sales managers and teams not interested because it did not make their commission figures like the proprietary op system software did. Project abandoned.

[@millersadventure]

Love your content man.

[@jhunlimited_llc]

I worked at IBM for 16 years. IBM invented the container/VM Hypervisor/LPAR. IBM Invented the Database, IBM invented SQL, IBM re-invented web software with Websphere and Websphere MQ, IBM Owns Redhat. IBM is still a huge Cloud player and also has an AI product (Watson) gaining more maturity. Without IBM, the modern Internet and Cloud would not exist.

[@ellisbelfer1340]

Same for AT&T. Transistors, Unix and C.

[@lgflanang]

How many people would buy a personal computer? 10? 20? Last words of a great company.

[@ryanpaaz]

IBM did a fantastic move getting Redhat. They can sell end to end consultation g and programming services for business. Maybe they’re not a monopoly in that space, but there’s money to be made for sure.

[@GregSherburne]

Within the first 40 seconds you say you cannot buy an IBM branded computer if you wanted to. But that is wrong. IBM has a very healthy mainframe market. Not all computers are desktops/laptops.

[@gamble777888]

It's a B2B company, unless you are in business you won't know about them. If you are a large multinational than you probably deal with them. Issue with the company, my opinion as an ex-employee for around 6 years, is that it got behind on the cloud. Mainframes became such big business they were reluctant to pivot to cloud, and they moved slower than most of its competitors and then was crushed when new players like Amazon and Microsoft leveraged their infrastructure and took over the lead in that space.

[@apple_m2_delight]

To add to your explanation at 0:53 it's not just Dell and Compaq that are eating up IBM's computer market share, it's also other home computer companies too like atari under jack tramiel and commodore with their amiga line of computers. It's game over for IBM at that point. It's also worth mentioning that IBM never takes the home computer business seriously. They thought all they need to stay on top is to just keep selling business computers while failing to realize that the home computer market is at its infancy in mid to late 80s

[@caseycu]

“Game over” for their low-margin consumer PCs, not a big loss for them. Why would they want to fight over scraps when they had much more profitable products?

[@jimatperfromix2759]

@@caseycu I agree that in the long run, the consumer PC business (and pretty much the business PC business too, for that matter) is a fight over scraps. However, it's interesting to note that as of currently, the largest vendor of Windows (IBM-compatible, that is) is Lenovo - the company that bought IBM's PC business. Perhaps there were just enough IBMer management people that went over to Lenovo to give it a good management tradition, or maybe it's just that Lenovo can manufacture cheaply in China, I'm not sure what gives Lenovo success. What I do know is that (a) it seems that Lenovo makes pretty solid products, and (b) I had intended to buy a laptop last Christmas from an (un-named but) otherwise well-respected competitor of Lenovo since I liked the design on paper, but I changed my mind when I learned about the incredible number of them that had been returned and the large number of bad reviews pointing out quality control issues. Now Lenovo is at the top of my list to consider whenever I get around to buying that new laptop.

[@gregsmith2377]

Thanks for the great update

[@mikeperigo854]

IBM is the grandmother of all Tech.

[@ladronsiman1471]

IBM has research labs all over ..They do multiple things ,You just CANT compare IBM to Apple ..IBM has research in nano transistors and and advanced math theories ..They are more like a University

[@mannysilva363]

IBM Quantum System Two, look out for the revolution!!

[@RyanK-100]

The personal computer was never a main part of their gigantic business. It's just what Joe Average Consumer saw when he shopped. Oh, and the secretary saw the logo on the typewriter!

[@santoraofcali5458]

I had an uncle who worked for IBM. He use to say IBM stood for Itty Bitty Morons.