IBM Apple merger ... and then Sony?

M

McFly

Member
Ok, this is highly speculative, but /. is running a story about a possible IBM Apple merger --> http://it.slashdot.org/it/04/12/06/1445209.shtml?tid=136&tid=218&tid=3

We all heard about the regular Apple Sony meetings and OS X would be a damn sweet OS for the cell based workstations ... so why not? I don't think a merger between IBM and Apple will happen, but maybe a colaboration of those three (IBM, Apple, Sony) could be possible and yeah ... damn, Teraflop OS X Cell Workstations would be amazing.

Note that I agree with every "this will not happen" reply, but I agree with all "what a sweet dream that would be" replies as well, so what you think, is there even a possibility or not?

Fredi
 
One of the /. replies:

This theory seems to bring together several loose threads floating around. First, were the rumors last week that IBM was selling it's PC division to some firm in Asia. Next, was the fact that these new cell Processors will be amazing, but Windows doesn't like anything but x86. IMHO, it seems that IBM is planning on selling their wintel PC division, and own the PC market later with cell processors run a new improved Mac OS. Think about it, the only reason Macs never caught on were because people didn't use them at work (didn't want to learn something new for home), and they were too expensive (Apple couldn't take advantage of Economies of Scale the same way Dell can). IBM will make Macs rollout well in large enterprises. People will be able to buy them for their home. And they will be orders of magnitude faster than their Wintel counterparts which are stuck on x86. I don't want to say it, but the combination of a new hardware platform(Power Cells), and a viable alternative in the corporate and home enviroment [IBM/Mac], and the server market [IBM/Linux] may spell the end of the Windows monoculture. Or I may just be getting my hopes up. I'm allowed to dream, aren't I?
Click to expand...

Guess I'm not he only one that was thinking about Cell when reading the aticle.

However, some interesting days lately for such speculations. :D

Fredi
 
That would certainly give Microsoft a run for its money, and it'd probably make the operating-system market actually have a bit of competition if they were aggressive in that.

Of course, where this would leave Nintendo, who knows.
 
I think that any competition is good, so this would be great if true

WinXP is MS's best OS to date (IMO) and I can only guess what they'd turn out of they were actually under some pressure
 
snapty00 said:
That would certainly give Microsoft a run for its money, and it'd probably make the operating-system market actually have a bit of competition if they were aggressive in that.

Of course, where this would leave Nintendo, who knows.
Click to expand...

Hobo%20Sleeping.jpg
 
Yeah, Windows XP is actually pretty decent.

I think Microsoft really is going to have to drop legacy Windows support altogether to move forward.
 
Sony would never merge with a Western company like IBM, so you can forget about that.

This is really more related to the computer market, I don't see where if affects the game market at all.

If anything, Microsoft should be scared. An IBM/Apple merger would I think offer a legit challenge to the Windows monopoly.

Haven't Apple computers used the IBM PowerPC core for years though?
 
Sony buys Western companies like MGM. They don't merge outright with them.

I think people throw around the word "merge" way too much without actually understanding what that means.

A speculative partnership is one thing, but that's really based on nothing. For all we know Sony could be making their own OS; they're a far bigger company than Apple is.
 
Gentoo > OS X
Click to expand...

Oh I don't know, there is something to be said for it not taking 209867348 hours to install an OS :P

(And don't get me started on 'emerge world') :P
 
I'm an Apple supporter, so this is nice. It'd be healthy for the market if there was a bigger competitor, but I'm generally not a fan of merging. Just my political viewpoints.
 
>>> think people throw around the word "merge" way too much without actually understanding what that means.


?

Says the guy who keeps throwing out "Nintendo and Matsushita would be the rox0rring merger!" lines...
 
"that would be a BLOW to MS, smart move if SONY can make this happen..."

why are sony being credited with this move?

If IBM and Apple were to get together, surely it would be to assault the Business computing market were all the cash is ? Wouldn't that be IBMs domain?

And aren't IBM involved in every new console project going on at the moment?

Perhaps Apple want to link up with IBM to make a Cell based Ipod games machine ?

etc etc...

"Sony buys Western companies like MGM. They don't merge outright with them. "

are you suggesting Sony might buy out a merged IBM + Apple???
 
Apple is my favorite computer company.

Sony is my least favorite game company.

Apple + Sony = Kill me now. No freaking way would I want Sony to be using Apple's stuff. I'd rather Apple and Nintendo get together. Though, I can see a lot of PS2 losers going "OMG, PlayStation is a Mac? Let's go buy an Xbox with Windowz." So, some good could come of that. Okay, in that case, bring it on.

Though, I don't think Apple's OS could make Sony's consoles any less shitty. The OS may be stable, but Sony's hardware wouldn't be any better than it is.

So I'm basically torn.

What gives anyway? Sony can make decent TV's and *cough* computers, but when they make a console, it is a piece of crap that people have to buy every year to replace the one they bought last year.

Arcticfox said:
They have used PowerPC cores, but except for the current G5 they were mostly produced by Motorola.
Click to expand...
The G3 was IBM. The G4 was Motorola. The G5 is IBM again.

At one point, the G3 by IBM was starting to catch up to the G4 by Motorola and Moto was starting to slip badly. (Especially after the whole "Stuck at 500MHz" thing. We thought they'd NEVER break the barrier.) Finally the G5 came along.
 
Arcticfox said:
They have used PowerPC cores, but except for the current G5 they were mostly produced by Motorola.
Click to expand...

Its all the same. Moto and IBM both build POWER based chips. Toshiba makes and uses them as well.
 
DCharlie said:
are you suggesting Sony might buy out a merged IBM + Apple???
Click to expand...

No way, Sony has less than 5% of the cash reserve they'd need to do that.

Microsoft (pre-dividend) probably had barely enough to do it, there's no way Sony can.
 
Pipe dream. As for IBM support enabling a push of OS X into business: haven't you guys ever heard of OS/2? That got a big push from IBM back when IBM was a hell of a lot more dominant, and it was basically DOA.
 
PC Gaijin said:
Pipe dream. As for IBM support enabling a push of OS X into business: haven't you guys ever heard of OS/2? That got a big push from IBM back when IBM was a hell of a lot more dominant, and it was basically DOA.
Click to expand...

agreed. And why would IBM do a complete 180 on their huge linux intiatives and instead push OS X?
 
Even being a Mac user, this merger makes no business sense to me. IBM is considering selling off their PC business because its low volume and profitable. Apple isn't exactly setting the world ablaze selling either XServes nor PowerMacs. It seems to be a wedding headed straight for divorce court. The corporate cultures of Apple and IBM are also EXTREMELY different. The product lines are also EXTREMELY different. IBM buying/merging with Apple is about as well planned at Time Warner buying/merging with AOL.

This idea doesn't even begin to make any sense...
 
Apple (with QuickTime) is pushing the H.264/AVC codec that has been ratified by the DVD forum to be included in the next generation High Definition DVD (HD DVD) format. As we all know, Sony is pushing the Blue Ray disc format. Seeing Sony and Apple deal together would require things like this to be sorted out.

soundwave05 said:
Sony would never merge with a Western company like IBM, so you can forget about that.
Click to expand...
I agree with that quote. By merging, Sony would loose total control. Sony is a control freak company, that's what brought them to become a company their size...
 
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