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IBM's $2.1bn Rational deal to upset market - Big Blue's biggest takeover since acquiring Lotus
vnunet ^
Posted on 12/08/2002 11:31:34 AM PST by chance33_98
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To: chance33_98
Bad, bad, bad, bad, BAD move by Rational.
IBM is where good companies go to die.
In a midnight-stealth deal, the CEO took the IBM offer without even waiting for a competing offer from Microsoft, when most of Rational's customers use their tools on Microsoft's platforms.
Now, instead of providing additional revenue to IBM, Microsoft will improve Visio's UML tools, and bury Rational Rose and the rest of the software suite without so much as a whimper.
Anyone remember Notes? Sure, the CEO and the board get rich, but for the great developers at Rational, I expect most of them will end up in Redmond in the not too distant future.
2
posted on
12/08/2002 11:42:18 AM PST
by
BuddhaBoy
To: BuddhaBoy
Now, instead of providing additional revenue to IBM, Microsoft will improve Visio's UML tools, and bury Rational Rose and the rest of the software suite without so much as a whimper. According to a Business Week article, Microsoft was planning inhouse development to replace the Rational offerings!
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Got a link?
4
posted on
12/08/2002 12:26:28 PM PST
by
BuddhaBoy
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"already doing in house development"
Absolutely. This is a fight to the death between IBM, and Intel/Microsoft for control of the network computing space.
IBM bought Rational because they knew of Microsofts own development....and they knew they needed this technology to own the business applications back-end.
And anyone who thinks Visio's UML is even close to Rational code is smokin' somthin'.
5
posted on
12/08/2002 12:34:49 PM PST
by
Mariner
To: BuddhaBoy
Anyone remember Notes? *shudder* We're stuck with that bloated piece of crapware in our operation. I never knew how bad it could be, but Notes is truly an abomination.
6
posted on
12/08/2002 12:34:58 PM PST
by
egarvue
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
I found the article, and this quote:
"The real threat, however, is Microsoft, which is also making the same move. While Rational has long been allied with Microsoft, the software giant now shows every sign of developing its own tools."
Microsoft is one of my clients, and I dont know where they get this idea, which appears to be speculation more than reporting anyway.
Microsoft's Visual Studio.NET Enterprise has an enhanced version of Visio which does a less than adequate job of UML modeling and code generation, and is very weak compared to Rational Rose.
It would have been just as easy for Microsoft to throw a little pocket change at Rational to pick them up, but they were not given the opportunity.
I have no doubt that Microsoft now feels it was treated rudely by a partner, which usually ends up with Microsoft placing a big target on that company's back. In two years, I expect the Rational tools to be marginalized niche products.
7
posted on
12/08/2002 12:35:47 PM PST
by
BuddhaBoy
To: egarvue
Notes is a testament to just how great the IBM sales division is.
There are not too many corporations who's people could actually sell that product for money.
Notes is a product that most companies wouldnt use if it was free.
8
posted on
12/08/2002 12:41:07 PM PST
by
BuddhaBoy
To: BuddhaBoy
Bad, bad, bad, bad, BAD move by Rational.
IBM is where good companies go to die.
You say that like it's a bad thing. :-)
I had to use Rational Rose a few years back, and IMHO it hurt more than helped for writing C++ code. They had a miserable GUI coupled with a screwed-up scheme for "automatic" code generation where Rose would generate the header files and empty definitions for the functions (the easy part), and the programmer had to wade into a file that looked like so many random characters to write the actual code. Instead of just writing the code, we had to spend all kinds of time figuring out how to get the "tool" to spit out the right thing.
Anyway, I'm still bitter about it.
9
posted on
12/08/2002 12:41:08 PM PST
by
kilohertz
To: BuddhaBoy
REDMOND'S SHADOW. The real threat, however, is Microsoft, which is also making the same move. While Rational has long been allied with Microsoft, the software giant now shows every sign of developing its own tools. Without IBM's marketing muscle and corporate customer base to sell to, over the course of several years Microsoft could walk away with much of the business Rational now does for it. Rational "needs to be closer to IBM," warns Gilpin. IBM's Rational Self-Interest
Hopefully the link will work for you!
To: BuddhaBoy
Doesn't this boost IBM's Eclipse strategy?
To: egarvue
*shudder* We're stuck with that bloated piece of crapware in our operation. I never knew how bad it could be, but Notes is truly an abomination.
Notes is one of the best software tools ever. Name one software tool that provides industrial strength security, workflow, and an integrated development kit. Best of all, this is software that works day in and day out. To the end users in our company, it is the best thing IT ever installed.
12
posted on
12/08/2002 12:44:37 PM PST
by
doosee
To: BuddhaBoy
bury Rational Rose and the rest of the software suite without so much as a whimper I think you're right about Rose. Visio is a poor man's Rose already, Rose is bigtime bloatware, and Microsoft will walk right into that market. But the cross platform tools like Purify aren't a target market for Microsoft. But the bloat in Purify and ClearCase will end up killing them too.
13
posted on
12/08/2002 12:46:04 PM PST
by
palmer
To: chance33_98; *tech_index; Sparta; Mathlete; Apple Pan Dowdy; grundle; beckett; billorites; ...
To: kilohertz
I use the current version of Rose with VS.NET. It appears that they have solved most of the code generation issues.
The biggest problem with Rose, is that it takes as long to learn to use correctly, as it does to just code up your project. Rose and the rest of the Rational Suite is unsuitable for anything but the largest of projects, unless (like me) you can get the tools and training for free.
Because I work for a number of companies at any one time, Rational's tools have been very helpful to me from a modeling perspective, and the XDE works well with both C# and VB.NET code-gen.
There is a pretty good discussion going on over at Slashdot about this very thing.
To: doosee
You need medication.
To: egarvue
"*shudder* We're stuck with that bloated piece of crapware in our operation. I never knew how bad it could be, but Notes is truly an abomination."Use it every day. It's not nearly as bad as you say; far from it, actually........and I've used most such packages on the market over the years. A bit on the complex side to set up, but it just ................works. Have it fired up right now, matter of fact.
To: palmer
But the bloat in Purify and ClearCase will end up killing them too. I'll certainly be watching developments.
To: Lessismore
Doesn't this boost IBM's Eclipse strategy? Yeah, but try describing that strategy in an Elevator speech. IBM has already forgotten everything that Gerstner taught them.
To: BuddhaBoy
I think you're right. The record shows that Microsoft sometimes starts behind, makes an inferior product, and takes a few years to catch up, but in the end they usually produce a better product. It happened to Netscape, Realplayer, dBase, and a host of other niche companies.
IBM has done a pretty good job of coming back from the abyss, but other than their core businesses they haven't shown much creativity.
20
posted on
12/08/2002 12:56:43 PM PST
by
Cicero
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