IBM 2001 Annual Report Download - page 21

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 21 of the 2001 IBM annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 112

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112

no. 5
We fought for an open world
THE END OF PROPRIETARY COMPUTING AT IBM
IBM used to be the poster child for closed, proprietary
computing. In the early days of the information technology
industry, computer makers built systems that were compatible
with their own product lines (mostly), but not with anyone else’s.
Even today, that’s the way a few I/T companies still build
their products
—
locking in customers and locking out flexibility
and choice based on architectural “choke” points.
But not IBM. By the 1980s, it was clear that any high-tech
company that tried to impose closed technology on customers
would be standing on the wrong side of history. Getting to the
right side wasn’t easy.
It involved opening up our software to run on all the
industry-leading platforms, and supporting non-IBM software
on our hardware. Even our services business had to change
—
recommending, installing and supporting non-IBM products.
We did all that, and along the way built a reputation for
backing any effort, with any vendor or any customer, to give
our products an even more open identity.
ibm produces more server-based middleware on the
windows nt operating system than microsoft
ibm actively backs the global grid forum
community’s vision of open standards for the “grid”networks that will
unite computer systems around the world,
regardless of their location, operating system or maker
ibm is a leading services provider for
oracle and computer associates products
1,000 ibm developers—more than at any other company—
are working on linux
we donated more than $40 million in
application development tools to a new, independent, open-source
software community called eclipse