[Sigia-l] TMI - and expert-level knowledge

[Lada Gorlenko]

L> 2.  I'm always suspicious when such research comes out of organizations with
L> little exposure to the consumer market like IBM, Sun, Oracle, etc. Having no
L> OS of its own, no consumer PC business, little/no presence on the desktop
L> app market, etc, I'm curious as to what IBM will do with this?

First of all, it's not exactly true. While those mentioned may not
build desktop apps for individual consumers, they (for instance, IBM
Global Services) build them for corporate ones, including governments.
That's a huge, although specialised, market. 

Then, there is a tendency (at least, in the corporate consumer market)
to hire suppliers that can provide everything in one box. Research
seemingly unrelated to the core business easily becomes a competitive
differentiator. 

Also, research itself is as much a commodity as anything else. It
sells, if you sell it right. 

<wisper> and then again, if one wants to take over the world, that's
exactly what one does - things that others don't expect him to be
doing... </wisper>

Lada

ps. If you thought of Intel as just a chip maker, think again
(sorry, the URL won't snip properly):
http://online.wsj.com/ad/article/philips/SB109407430719807240.html?mod=sponsored_by_philips