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The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

sloanreview.mit.edu

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Re: The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

#11

Post by cmrdporcupine »

TX81Z wrote: post #10
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, as an ex-Googler, I have to say... uh... I don't know anything about what might have been going on there :-)

Shhh…Jeff Dean is a God who designed the Perfect System, protobuffs - despite not being used by anybody but Google - are the One True Way, and setting company priorities via how well middle-management can win political battles to get inflated headcount is innovation optimal. Right? That’s why everybody is raving over how awesome Bard is!

Disturbingly, protobufs are seemingly used a whole boatload outside out of Google, despite me finding them personally meh :-)

Golang seems bigger outside of Google than inside, too.

(Like the nick, BTW. Wish i'd never sold off my TX81z)

Re: The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

#12

Post by paulddraper »

TX81Z wrote: post #10
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, as an ex-Googler, I have to say... uh... I don't know anything about what might have been going on there :-)

Shhh…Jeff Dean is a God who designed the Perfect System, protobuffs - despite not being used by anybody but Google - are the One True Way, and setting company priorities via how well middle-management can win political battles to get inflated headcount is innovation optimal. Right? That’s why everybody is raving over how awesome Bard is!

Protobufs are pretty good.

Sure, there's things that can be improved, but years later they are still the most ubiquitous binary message format.

Re: The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

#13

Post by 1-6 »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #7
sys_64738 wrote: post #4

Arrogance of IBM execs flowed into the DNA of IBMers. It's why those let go struggled to find employment elsewhere in the same industry. Obsolete technologies and processes that were too bureaucratic are tough to unlearn.

Damn, as an ex-Googler, I have to say... uh... I don't know anything about what might have been going on there :-)

It feels different this time though. Top companies these days have built an intellectual and infrastructural moat that no one can compete with unless they can go back to the 2000's and buy up all the communication pathways.

Re: The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

#14

Post by 1-6 »

29athrowaway wrote: post #2

I think Pirates of Silicon Valley makes it clear. IBM did not think there was much money in software and they were wrong about it.

It has to occur at the same time. A pure software play isn't the best either because there's always... well, FOSS.

Re: The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

#16

Post by Spooky23 »

yardie wrote: post #3

When has IBM been considered on the rise? I thought they just reinvented themselves into services, sold off the "business machines", and now just suck at the teat of government contracts and consulting? They were considered pioneers in AI with Watson but have been leapfrogged in execution by OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. So I ask again, what does IBM actually do?

In 1996 they were on the rise as compared to their implosion in 1992/1993.

It’s hard to describe the impact of that time - IBM centers were eliminated or eliminated thousands of jobs. Places like Kingston, NY and Binghamton, NY just died as the mainframe business pulled back dramatically.

Everyone laughs about stupid IBM, but frankly they are the only meaningful survivor of the early days of computing and find a way to stay around.

Re: The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

#17

Post by makeitdouble »

paulddraper wrote: post #12
TX81Z wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shhh…Jeff Dean is a God who designed the Perfect System, protobuffs - despite not being used by anybody but Google - are the One True Way, and setting company priorities via how well middle-management can win political battles to get inflated headcount is innovation optimal. Right? That’s why everybody is raving over how awesome Bard is!

Protobufs are pretty good. Sure, there's things that can be improved, but years later they are still the most ubiquitous binary message format.

The only other binary message format I saw were flat files with fixed bytes length fields, dtp/sftp in legacy banking systems. And many moved to first csv, then json/xml wherever they could.

I feel there's no one trying to take that crown really.

Re: The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

#18

Post by cmrdporcupine »

makeitdouble wrote: post #17
paulddraper wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Protobufs are pretty good. Sure, there's things that can be improved, but years later they are still the most ubiquitous binary message format.

The only other binary message format I saw were flat files with fixed bytes length fields, dtp/sftp in legacy banking systems. And many moved to first csv, then json/xml wherever they could. I feel there's no one trying to take that crown really.

ASN.1 wants to have a word with you!

Re: The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

#19

Post by 63 »

yardie wrote: post #3

When has IBM been considered on the rise? I thought they just reinvented themselves into services, sold off the "business machines", and now just suck at the teat of government contracts and consulting? They were considered pioneers in AI with Watson but have been leapfrogged in execution by OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. So I ask again, what does IBM actually do?

Are government contracts and consulting considered disreputable for some reason? A reliable and accountable third party firm for custom software development feels like a valid niche worth filling to me, and strikes me as much more moral than the other behemoth tech companies constantly pursuing surveillance capitalism and eroding the digital rights of individuals.

Re: The Decline and Rise of IBM (1996)

#20

Post by makeitdouble »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #18
makeitdouble wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only other binary message format I saw were flat files with fixed bytes length fields, dtp/sftp in legacy banking systems. And many moved to first csv, then json/xml wherever they could. I feel there's no one trying to take that crown really.

ASN.1 wants to have a word with you!

Thanks, this was a nice rabbit hole to fall into.
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