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IBM to acquire Confluent

(www.confluent.io)
443 points abd12 | 5 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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Lu2025 ◴[08 Dec 25 21:23 UTC] No.46197840[source]▶
> they consistently deliver low quality/bottom-tier services and products

I worked with IBMers. The main priority for a lot of them is to ensure continuous employment for themselves and their buddies. They'd add unnecessary complexity to a product to stretch out the development for another couple of years. And they work at leisure pace for tech. Actual 9 to 5, many coffee breaks. They can't compete.

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1. Lammy ◴[08 Dec 25 21:44 UTC] No.46198066[source]▶
> And they work at leisure pace for tech. Actual 9 to 5, many coffee breaks.

Ultra-based. We should all be so lucky.

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2. parpfish ◴[09 Dec 25 00:00 UTC] No.46199465[source]▶
You mean you DONT work a leisurely 6-8 hour day with breaks? I thought everybody did that until there was some urgent firefighting
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3. haliskerbas ◴[09 Dec 25 03:32 UTC] No.46200956[source]▶
no you need to be a "cracked engineer" working "7 days a week in our house/office in SF"
4. swader999 ◴[09 Dec 25 13:39 UTC] No.46204808[source]▶
I sure do, if I'm at my computer longer the work quality goes way down. I'm thinking about it much longer each day than working on it.
5. red-iron-pine ◴[09 Dec 25 18:34 UTC] No.46208653[source]▶
hustle culture bro, everyone needs 996

we are achieving true egalitarianism here, everyone can be a slave regardless of color, creed, or origin