Comment by pacifika

4 months ago

50 year grudges are not relevant there is no one still at ibm that worked there in 1977, IMHO.

It’s the ship of Theseus in corporate form. Even if all the people are gone but the culture hasn’t changed, is the criticism inaccurate?

  • > Even if all the people are gone but the culture hasn’t changed

    Can you expand on this? What was the culture then versus now?

    For example back then it was the culture to have suit inspectors ensure you had the right clothes on and even measure your socks. (PBS Triumph of the Nerds)

  • I mean, okay, but you're taking the current leadership's words and claiming they are incorrect because IBM management was not great at identifying trends decades ago. Historical trend is not an indicator of the future and it's not engaging in good faith on the conversation if overspending on AI can be backed by revenue in the future. You're attacking the messenger instead of the message.

    • I’m saying given IBMs track record of completely failing at innovation repeatedly and failing at investing on the correct technologies, why do you assume today’s CEO is better at it and has bucked the milquetoast culture that has pervaded IBM? It’s a company that has largely divested its ability to provide solutions and technology and turned more into a large shop consultancy (+ milking their legacy mainframe contracts and whatnot).

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Culture evolution can be very fast, yet some cultures stick around for a very long time.