A Forbes article by Greg Satell recounts events that led to IBM’s metamorphosis starting in 1993 from a company whose business model was predicated on proprietary products and systems to one with an enduring commitment to open source.
"In the beginning, we needed to understand what open source actually meant. The natural instincts of enterprises was to try to control it, so these instincts needed to change. What we realized was that the more things opened up, the greater the opportunity would be," notes Dr. Angel Diaz,Vice President, Cloud Architecture and Technology, IBM, in the article.
"Today, more than twenty years later, IBM’s commitment to open platforms is unsurpassed,"writes Satell, pointing to two new IBM initiatives—developerWorks Open and a new academic initiative for the cloud—"that will deepen its commitment to open technology. The story of how it all happened provides a useful model for how managers can adapt to the new age of platforms."
Read the Forbes article by Greg Satell, "How IBM Learned To Love Open Technology," here.