IBM acquires Red Hat • Hacker News Board

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#991

Post by dexterous » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 11:39 AM UTC

jarym wrote: post #54

mrkstu wrote: post #42

If IBM has one brain cell left, they'll pull a NeXT/Apple merger and let Red Hat executives start running the combined company. That is the one path to a real future for IBM instead of its slow decline into complete irrelevance.

RH are good at a LOT of things but sales remains a bit of a weak point compared to Oracle and to a lesser degree IBM. Hopefully the RH guys can bring back a focus on technology to IBM while IBM figure out how to sell it to customers. PS: so will it be called Blue Hat?

No one beats Oracle at sales, they are a sales organization; they just happen to be selling software.

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#992

Post by kache_ » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 2:53 PM UTC

diminoten wrote: post #324

kache_ wrote: post #183

New IBM hire, software developer. So far; I've taken part of 3 separate events where I was essentially sat through a presentation on why I should file patents (so they could farm IP off of me and my peers). IBM is a pathological company, and definitely not good news for open source.

How long have you been in the industry? As far as I understand, that's a pretty standard pitch, though maybe IBM emphasizes it more. Do you feel like your company shouldn't make money off the work you do for them? I'm confused by your tone...

I am familiar with patent reward systems, but only IBM pushed what I call reckless patenting. They explicitly said, in multiple situations, that even if you think that it's a trivial idea you should attempt to patent it as it will probably get through.

The only reason for this is to up their patent arsenal.

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#993

Post by kache_ » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:03 PM UTC

threeseed wrote: post #537

kache_ wrote: post #183

New IBM hire, software developer. So far; I've taken part of 3 separate events where I was essentially sat through a presentation on why I should file patents (so they could farm IP off of me and my peers). IBM is a pathological company, and definitely not good news for open source.

Maybe you are new to the software industry but at every company I've seen e.g. Apple, Google, Microsoft they strongly encourage you to be filing patents. And calling it farming is a bit strange considering you're paid by the company to generate the IP in the first place. Plus they typically compensate you extra for it.

IBM pushed what I call reckless patenting. They explicitly said, in multiple situations, that even if you think that it's a trivial idea you should attempt to patent it as it will probably get through. Personally, that sentiment goes against my philosophy. I wouldn't regard the monetary benefit to filing a patent through IBM worth the guilt I would accrue.

Note that I haven't worked for other giant tech conglomerates, but I haven't experienced it in the other medium - large but not ridiculously large companies which I've worked for.

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#994

Post by k_bx » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 4:06 PM UTC

module0000 wrote: post #939

rdsubhas wrote: post #907

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe because IBM would have provided a superior price, and RedHat is a public company answerable to shareholders. Let's take reality, RedHat is still a small player compared to Amazon, Microsoft or Google. They don't have the bandwidth to compete on all the additional hosted services offerings. By partnering with IBM, they get access to IBMs entire suite of enterprise customers and hosted products, making them a ser…

>> Maybe because IBM would have provided a superior price, and RedHat is a public company answerable to shareholders. I think a lot of readers probably don't understand what that line means. Even if the C-suite at RedHat did not want to do this, they have no choice. Shareholders can riot and oust you(executives) for not taking what they consider to be the "best deal"(and this is one heck of a deal). Long story short,…

This makes a lot of sense, thank you!

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#995

Post by _-david-_ » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 3:26 AM UTC

easytiger wrote: post #900

ric2b wrote: post #881

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess they can start a new company and keep working on the same products. The community would have to change to their new repo's but other than that RedHat could get a new start, with a different name.

CENTOS?

Trademark is owned by Red Hat

https://www.centos.org/legal/trademarks/

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#996

Post by lghh » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 1:54 PM UTC

notyourwork wrote: post #25

lghh wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want Google or Amazon anywhere near Canonical.

Why?

Because more consolidation at the top is not good, and there is already far too much.

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#997

Post by GDV » Thu, Nov 01, 2018, 3:27 PM UTC

Hi all, I'm a reporter with Bloomberg. I'm keen to track the acquisition and how it's being received, especially from the Red Hat end. If you're an employee and would like to chat, please reach out. I can keep it completely anonymous. gerritdevynck@protonmail.com

Thank you!

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#998

Post by GDV » Thu, Nov 01, 2018, 3:29 PM UTC

ndru wrote: post #838

kitd wrote: post #831

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an IBMer and the current rule is you can work on OS projects in your own time as long as it isn't to the detriment of IBM's projects.

Funnily enough, one of the most praised points in Red Hat's code of conduct is the fact that it specifically says that you can work on open source projects _even if it is to the detriment to Red Hat_. Guess that's going to change now. Disclaimer: Red Hat employee (at the moment)

Hey ndru, I'm a reporter with Bloomberg and I'm keen to stay in touch with Red Hat employees to get an accurate picture of how the acquisition is going. Can keep it completely anonymous. gerritdevynck@protonmail.com if you're interested. Thanks!

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#999

Post by cb504 » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 9:36 AM UTC

techntoke wrote: post #653

eyalm wrote: post #325

Cloud native/kubernetes race is just exploding. RH strategy was mostly focused around OpenShift lately, which makes complete sense. Kubernetes is the next datacenter OS, just as ESX (and virtualization in general) was in the past 15 years and it's going to drive a radical shift in the enterprise IT world in the coming years. IBM (as an active member of the kubernetes community) see that huge opportunity and are doubl…

Canonical will likely be acquired by Microsoft.

Interesting ... don't see it happening. The invested but never bought Cyanogen, so I could see them buying some stock but not buying the company.

Re: IBM acquires Red Hat

#1000

Post by cb504 » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 9:37 AM UTC

bdavis__ wrote: post #9

RedHat can be replicated. Not cheap, and it will take a few years. What do I mean? Well, IBM will slaughter this goose very quickly. Customers will experience vendor hate to a high degree. But, RH is based on open source. A replacement, open source friendly, can fork RHEL at any time.

This is great news for Canonical.