Some observations from an article on ZDNet (When will IBM buy Sun?).
- Microsoft wants to own everything it can see (and then some), or put all of its competition out of business (the business philosophy here is to "cut off their air supply").
- IBM likes to write its own future, and hates playing second fiddle to Microsoft, and doesn't want to repeat that mistake with Sun and Java.
- Sun hates Microsoft, and hates IBM almost as much. A healthy future for Sun involves creating, taking and keeping business from Microsoft and IBM.
So, looking at the tangled alliances:
- Sun comes out with Java to disrupt Microsoft
- IBM backs Linux to disript both Microsoft and Sun
- IBM works with Sun on Java to dislodge Microsoft
- IBM works with Microsoft to create "web services" to disloge Sun from making Java it's wholly owned franchise
The only alliance that's missing is a Sun-Microsoft partnership to bring down IBM.
This sordid state of affairs brings the whole "enemy of my enemy" strategy to a new level.
The thing I still find amazing...
pdcawley on 2002-04-10T20:03:22
Is that IBM is
still here.
Re: three-legged ring...
jdporter on 2002-04-15T19:50:58
>This sordid state of affairs brings the whole "enemy of my enemy" strategy to a new level.
Not really. Just classical game theory.
Ever heard of von Neumann?
