Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check • Hacker News Board

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#121

Post by raverbashing » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 4:51 AM UTC

throwaway9980 wrote: post #3

IBM vastly over promises with their marketing. It is so frustrating to have to answer questions from the CEO about why we don't solve all our problems with magic beans from IBM's Watson. I understand that this is what they want. They want to drive executives' interest in the product, but I believe they do so at the expense of their goodwill with the tech community. Am I the only one who cringes when these ads air? Ed…

That was always ibm's business model: convince higher ups to buy it, often in detriment of who uses it

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#122

Post by agumonkey » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 4:52 AM UTC

throwaway111991 wrote: post #13

bpodgursky wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, the "technical" person at a conference does not mean "engineer". It's like a quarter tier past pure-salesperson. Obviously not an impressive showing overall, but I don't think it should be used as a judge of their technical talent.

I didn't expect a discourse on topology, but Compare your X to Y, and knowing more than 1 use case is basic, basic, sales stuff

Seems like IBM latest sales strategy is I B M and stickers.

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#123

Post by comstock » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 4:53 AM UTC

pgodzin wrote: post #38

ben_jones wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It didn't bug me until 60 minutes did a full blown 15 minute commercial for IBM on how Watson is saving the world. No I will not leave a link to that absurd piece.

I'm a SWE at Watson Health. What do you think was so absurd about it? It definitely didn't explain the constraints and limitations well enough (it won't diagnose any problem you can have), but for the cancer scenario the segment centered on, the Watson solution is indeed able to greatly assist doctors with a task that does not scale well for them.

I think it would be useful to link to some scientific evaluation of Watson Health.

I'd want to see:

0. A baseline measurement.

1. Comparison to the nearest compatible.

2. Comparison against a simple algorithm/expert system.

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#124

Post by nameless912 » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 4:53 AM UTC

throwaway9980 wrote: post #3

IBM vastly over promises with their marketing. It is so frustrating to have to answer questions from the CEO about why we don't solve all our problems with magic beans from IBM's Watson. I understand that this is what they want. They want to drive executives' interest in the product, but I believe they do so at the expense of their goodwill with the tech community. Am I the only one who cringes when these ads air? Ed…

> beans

I'm reminded of the horrors of early-2000s enterprise Java.

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#125

Post by verdverm » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 4:55 AM UTC

I quit IBM Watson 5 weeks ago. Here is why IBM is suffering.

https://verdverm.com/2017/07/a-new-chapter/

PM me for more ;]

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#126

Post by dotancohen » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 4:56 AM UTC

blazespin wrote: post #60

_delirium wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Watson" made more sense to me when I realized it was just a branding term for any AI-related product, API, or service offered by IBM, which vary widely in functionality. That fact is not that hidden [1], but their marketing doesn't exactly emphasize it. If you view it that way, "Watson" should just be compared against any other similarly broad AI-as-a-service offering with strengths and weaknesses, not treated as so…

It might be more honest if they said "IBM Data AI Division."

How about: With All The Shit On Nails

Hmm, I'm having a hard time figuring out the N. Ideas?

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#127

Post by bdamm » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 4:56 AM UTC

throwaway91111 wrote: post #76

Swizec wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM"

Please, let this quote be ironic.

No, it's historic.

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#128

Post by abtinf » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 4:58 AM UTC

dsacco wrote: post #101

abtinf wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclosure: I work in developer advocacy at IBM. Thank you for sharing your view. If you'd like to talk more about how we can better message our offerings, please feel free to reach out. I'd love to learn more about the kinds of problems you are trying to solve. Edit: yes, I know, this is a bland response to the parent. But change needs feedback. Edit 2: thanks matt4077

I'm going to pile on to everything else you're receiving here: > I'd love to learn more about the kinds of problems you are trying to solve. This doesn't sound genuine. This type of delivery almost never sounds genuine. You wouldn't "love" to learn about those problems, and even if you would, virtually no one will believe you because the same corporate speak delivery is used by people who have no commitment to action…

The reason I joined IBM in this role is that I do love hearing about customer problems. I was hired because I started programming when I was 8, spent 15 years in engineering and engineering management roles mostly at startups, and because I really like to talk to people about the problems they face.

I'm sure there are companies, and probably parts of IBM, that have to run their communication by legal, but I'm not part of that. It's just how I talk.

I can't guarantee change on any particular issue, and it would ludicrous for me to act as if I speak for the nearly 400,000 IBM employees, so I temper what I say out of a desire to be honest.

My purpose in this thread is to find people who want to share their experience and I assume, perhaps naively, that is part of the purpose of commenting online.

No matter, the discussion in this thread has already been very valuable and I do appreciate everyone's comments, even throwaways.

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#129

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 5:00 AM UTC

abtinf wrote: post #27

throwaway9980 wrote: post #3

IBM vastly over promises with their marketing. It is so frustrating to have to answer questions from the CEO about why we don't solve all our problems with magic beans from IBM's Watson. I understand that this is what they want. They want to drive executives' interest in the product, but I believe they do so at the expense of their goodwill with the tech community. Am I the only one who cringes when these ads air? Ed…

Disclosure: I work in developer advocacy at IBM. Thank you for sharing your view. If you'd like to talk more about how we can better message our offerings, please feel free to reach out. I'd love to learn more about the kinds of problems you are trying to solve. Edit: yes, I know, this is a bland response to the parent. But change needs feedback. Edit 2: thanks matt4077

[deleted]

Re: Jefferies gives IBM Watson a Wall Street reality check

#130

Post by komali2 » Fri, Jul 14, 2017, 5:04 AM UTC

I think it's one of the last great investments - Watson will make IBM an astonishing amount of money, right up until it and the technology its spearheading make money irrelevant.