Yeah, but try describing that strategy in an Elevator speech. IBM has already forgotten everything that Gerstner taught them.
The Battle to Streamline Business Software
Simplification -- using fewer suppliers and fewer packages to cut overall costs -- is rapidly becoming an issue that unites all CIOs
Microsoft's business is based on selling proprietary operating systems, databases, development tools, and office automation that will run on hardware from multiple manufacturers. This turns PC and Winetel servers into a commodity business, while Microsoft gets the proprietary premium.
IBM is striking back by joining the open source movement to create development tools that will run on multiple platforms (Window, Linux, etc), thereby turning development tools into a commodity business. Meanwhile IBM uses the development tools as a means to build its application and IT outsourcing business where it can get proprietary margins.
It is somewhat ironic that IBM is now the biggest player in outsourcing, which looks ever so much like the service bureau business that the US Govt forced IBM out of in the '60s (and also kept AT&T out of through various FCC and Justice Department restrictions). I'd predict that small/medium businesses with fairly straightforward IT needs will continue to be in the "do it yourself" camp using Microsoft and third party software. However, big organizations with complex IT need will outsource more IT functions to IBM. IBM needs to offer these customers a choice of doing their own application development within an efficient, easy-to-use outsourced environment, or having IBM do the application development as part of the outsourced services. In either case, IBM needs to build a great toolset and development environment particularly suited to developing high-end applications.