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IBM to acquire Confluent

(www.confluent.io)
443 points abd12 | 1 comments | 08 Dec 25 13:43 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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notepad0x90 ◴[08 Dec 25 15:01 UTC] No.46192971[source]▶
This is so fascinating to me. I mean how IBM keeps taking over other companies, but they consistently deliver low quality/bottom-tier services and products. Why do they keep doing the same thing again and again? How are they generating actual revenue this way?

Ok, so does anyone remember 'Watson'? It was the chatgpt before chatgpt. they built it in house. Why didn't they compete with OpenAI like Google and Anthropic are doing, with in-house tools? They have a mature PowerPC (Power9+? now?)setup, lots of talent to make ML/LLMs work and lots of existing investment in datacenters and getting GPU-intense workloads going.

I don't disagree that this acquisition is good strategy, I'm just fascinated (Schadenfreude?) to witness the demise of confluent now. I think economists should study this, it might help avert larger problems.

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1. stackskipton ◴[08 Dec 25 15:24 UTC] No.46193283[source]▶
>Why do they keep doing the same thing again and again? How are they generating actual revenue this way?

IBM has a ton of Enterprise software, backed by a bunch of consultants hiding in boring businesses/governments.

They also do a ton of outsourcing work where they will be big enterprise IT support desk and various other functions. In fact, that side has gotten so big, IBM now has more employees in India in then any other country.