Big Blue: IBM's Use and Abuse of Power

By Richard T. Delamarter and Richard Thomas Delamarter

Book Overview

The nature of the corporation in Modern American business and it's role in power politics. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0396085156
• ISBN13: 9780396085157
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Dodd Mead
• Length: 393 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.5" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Interesting read

This book would seem to be obsolete. The IBM having a"stranglehold on the information society" (book jacket)is quite literally no more. Now it would be more appropriateto talk about Intel and Microsoft in this light.In a way, that is the real message of the book, that no matterhow bad a monopoly seems today, economic forces eventuallycome to bear. I grew up with the computer industry (bothI and my late father are/were computer engineers), and I canremember a time when, especially after the virtual destructionof the "home computer" business by IBM in the early 80's,that people really believed that IBM would allways occupysuch a position.To realize that truth, that no monopoly is forever, is one reason to read this book, or read it again. The other one, as another reviewer mentioned, is that IBM was very muchthe father of the monopolies that hold sway today. Intelstill uses the IBM playbook, with pricing that suddenlydrops to knock out anyone that threatens them, lawsuitsfiled against "patent infringers" before even determiningif and when they had really been infringed on, etc.However, it is in the empire of Microsoft that I think thetrue legacy of IBM lives on. You cannot read this bookand not see the parallels of lockout contracts, deliberateincompatibilities, and "free" products like the browserwhose true purpose was to kill small companies who threatentheir monopoly on the basic operating system (or seethe current war against Realaudio).Unfortunately, the person who should most need to read thisbook currently heads up Microsoft. I say that because thebook details Microsofts' future, which will be the same asIBMs: one of continuous clashes with the government. Read thisbook and realize how funny it is that Microsoft thinks ithas satisfied the government of the USA with their latestconsent decree. The past of IBM is littered with suchconsent decrees, and Microsoft is up to #2 now.But I digress from the book. What rapidly becomes apparentfrom Mr. Delamarters' book is that, having served on thegovernments largest and last effort to bring "down" IBM,unsucessfully, he apparently wanted to continue this trialin the press.Its all very well documented. It should be since Delamarterwas hardly an uninformed and uninterested observer. However,he seems to be ready to explain any fact or figure in thelight of IBM as the monopolist. IBM went into panic whenthe 1401 computer share went down from even %80 to %75percent, and came out with the 360. How many companiesdon't panic, and fight back tooth and nail when theirmarket share drops ? Are we going to brand a company as"bad" just because they manage to get their market shareup to high levels ?The author details the "preannouncement" of the 360 asa preditory act, that he shows increased IBMs market sharebefore the product even arrived (and indeed, this was alarge part of complaints against IBM). But are we goingto hang all companies because they want to preannounce, or even because they preannounce to try to k