Thread regarding IBM layoffs

AK said: “In order to save dying IBM, no more dinosaurs”

will the a-s klown now fire himself without a golden parachute

I may be off base, but it seems logical to me that IBM's patent production would be on a major downswing at this point. IBM has dispensed with most of its former divisions, leaving enterprise hardware and software. That's definitely a lot of ground to cover, but it's nothing like what they once had decades ago...

Didn't IBM get rid of the financial incentives for employee patents? You're just giving away your IP for free on your own time at this point. Even before that happened, IBM was known as a patent troll. They file patents not because they actually intend to develop those ideas; it's so they can sue other companies that are actually investing and innovating like Groupon, Zillow, and Rakuten, to name a few, for a cut by citing patent infringement. It's actually a reasonably big source of revenue but is also lazy and suss and tells you what kind of company it has become. Anyone giving away their IP to IBM at this point is being played for a fool.

Depends on what IBM does with the FCF generated from replacing labor and dumping 1/2 of infrastructure

Increase the dividend and restart the share buybacks.

There are 3 fundamental actions taking place within IBM that will determine its Enterprise future going forward. YES Niche Enterprise is IBM’s focus and everything else will slowly get disposed of. You have already seen IBM start (watson health, weather, GTS, HCL SW, Intel servers, PC’s, etc etc)

1. Consulting will buy, develop, or partner with any AI offering to replace labor and lower costs. Offshoring has run its course for the most part, and now AI will replace that offshoring. Yes this will replace 50% of the task doers over time
2. SW will continue to pursue buying innovation rather than developing it in house for most apps. There are just way too many independent Enterprise developers, and it’s cheaper to buy effective developers vs developing them internally. SW will also aggressively pursue AI offerings to modernize legacy code for Enterprises. This is not unique to IBM, but rather is an industry objective. Every SW house in the world is pursuing these exact same objectives (microsoft, oracle, sap, etc etc). Yes these two things will replace 1/2 of the coders over time at IBM.
3. Infrastructure will continue to invest in Enterprise performance. This means IBM will focus on server and custom chip design to maximize performance. Pack as much automation into every device to keep your offerings relevant and 2-3 years ahead of the pack. This is what keeps Enterprise customers coming back for more. Staying ahead of the competition. Yes this will replace 1/2 of infrastructure as they are not focused on Enterprise

What will these 3 actions result in stagnation?
Depends on what IBM does with the FCF generated from replacing labor and dumping 1/2 of infrastructure

@3wkp+1ttxjGQo

"IBM is no longer a force to be reckoned with..." is IMHO a bit uncharitable. IBM is still the dominant player in certain market segments, and it is unlikely that they will be pushed out any time soon. "International BUSINESS Machines" is the name of the company, and they are living up to that title. As much as observers would like to imagine otherwise, IBM is not the AI company, the quantum computing company, the printer company, the networking and communications company, nor any other kind of company. IBM sells big-a-s servers and associated bits of enterprise software to business customers, and that's that. They have dabbled in other technology segments from time to time, but they keep on retreating to their roots.

Let this be a warning to everyone. IBM is historically conservative in its corporate culture and management style, and not prone to flights of fancy when it comes to trendy technologies. They are good at mainframe hardware and software, and legacy software products. They are still current and relevant to that market segment, but given their history it's unrealistic to expect them to be anything else. They may call out for everyone to be "master inventors", but I'm willing to bet that most of that IP doesn't go anywhere outside the legal department. It won't get developed and it won't be sold.

@3uko+1ttxjGQo

Maybe it's time for you to move on to some place that recognizes your value. IBM is not worth a hill of beans in terms of any current or relevant technology. The ignorant leadership like AK and RT like to think they are important, but the reality is otherwise. IBM is no longer a force to be reckoned with in the technology marketplace or anywhere else. Money talks, BS walks. Once they fail with the dividend, ...

@2zkm+1ttxjGQo I'm a master inventor and my take is this: patents ain't worth sh-t. So many S-1's that just die a death because we can't be bothered to resource development. In my team, we've gutted support, and we've pushed a bunch of what they used to do on developers - we don't even have resource for projects the executives demand we do, let alone developer-inspired projects.

It's particularly frustrating as I've been producing more, better high value patents now than ever before, and so few of them are going anywhere useful.

The IBM of today is like many other companies. The executive ranks are filled with people with finance or legal backgrounds, as opposed to the engineering or manufacturing backgrounds like you see in Asian (or some European) companies. When coupled with a lack of free cash flow within the business, you end up with a company that is both greedy and risk-averse. They want the rewards from someone's invention without even putting in the effort or funding (also known as RISK) to make a prototype.

A no-risk mentality leads to stagnation and lack of growth, which is where IBM is right now. People with good ideas are voting with their feet, and those good ideas will find their homes elsewhere.

Some of my patents were filed and rated high value, how ever when I asked them can you fund it so we can build it. Answer was can you build a prototype while you still do your currrent job. Shows there mentality ...........

What actually happens in a lot of situations is even more depressing. Somebody will invent something, then the employing company (IBM or other, doesn't matter) will impound the IP (intellectual property) and NOT do anything with it. They won't build or market the invention for whatever reason, but they'll act as patent trolls against anyone else (including the actual inventor) who might try to make something of their invention.

The IBM of today is not the IBM of 50, 40, 30, 20 or even 10 years ago. They have dispensed with much of their manufacturing abilities, including the staff who could get things done. The executive management consists largely of finance and legal types. There are no Steve Jobs or Bill Gates types hanging around who could recognize something great (or even something GOOD) and do something with it, so the advice in previous comments is sound...if you come up with a good idea, keep it to yourself until you and your ideas are safe and sound in a different place.

dear god, don't give the parasite ibm any great ideas
they will just steal for the parasites above
they benefit, you get chump change and then outsourced eventually

If you have a truly great idea, do NOT tell anyone else, and develop it in your spare time. If/when you are convinced it actually works, quit, and pursue it. But make sure there is no trace of it happening while employed by IBM otherwise they can (rightfully) claim it as theirs.

Yes, this is immoral and illegal, but so is IBM.

Why would anyone disclose a bright idea ?
1- it will take an enormous effort to convince the mediocre cabal of IBM executives . Is it worth ?
2- all the benefits will go to line the pockets of the dishonest cabal of IBM executives.