Big Blue: IBM's Use and Abuse of Power Hardcover – October, 1986

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 appropriate
to talk about Intel and Microsoft in this light.
In a way, that is the real message of the book, that no matter
how bad a monopoly seems today, economic forces eventually
come to bear. I grew up with the computer industry (both
I and my late father are/were computer engineers), and I can
remember a time when, especially after the virtual destruction
of the "home computer" business by IBM in the early 80's,
that people really believed that IBM would allways occupy
such 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 much
the father of the monopolies that hold sway today. Intel
still uses the IBM playbook, with pricing that suddenly
drops to knock out anyone that threatens them, lawsuits
filed against "patent infringers" before even determining
if and when they had really been infringed on, etc.
However, it is in the empire of Microsoft that I think the
true legacy of IBM lives on. You cannot read this book
and not see the parallels of lockout contracts, deliberate
incompatibilities, and "free" products like the browser
whose true purpose was to kill small companies who threaten
their monopoly on the basic operating system (or see
the current war against Realaudio).
Unfortunately, the person who should most need to read this
book currently heads up Microsoft. I say that because the
book details Microsofts' future, which will be the same as
IBMs: one of continuous clashes with the government. Read this
book and realize how funny it is that Microsoft thinks it
has satisfied the government of the USA with their latest
consent decree. The past of IBM is littered with such
consent decrees, and Microsoft is up to #2 now.
But I digress from the book. What rapidly becomes apparent
from Mr. Delamarters' book is that, having served on the
governments largest and last effort to bring "down" IBM,
unsucessfully, he apparently wanted to continue this trial
in the press.
Its all very well documented. It should be since Delamarter
was hardly an uninformed and uninterested observer. However,
he seems to be ready to explain any fact or figure in the
light of IBM as the monopolist. IBM went into panic when
the 1401 computer share went down from even %80 to %75
percent, and came out with the 360. How many companies
don't panic, and fight back tooth and nail when their
market share drops ? Are we going to brand a company as
"bad" just because they manage to get their market share
up to high levels ?
The author details the "preannouncement" of the 360 as
a preditory act, that he shows increased IBMs market share
before the product even arrived (and indeed, this was a
large part of complaints against IBM). But are we going
to hang all companies because they want to preannounce,
or even because they preannounce to try to keep customers
from defecting ?
Don't get me wrong. IBM was a monopolist. IBM didn't change,
they just lost, and arguably they lost to other monopolies.
I think this book is a good book, to be read with a grain of
salt. Then, afterwards, we should all think about what we
really want out of our corporations in the future. To be
subject to breakup if their market share exceeds %N ?
To not be scrappy competitors ? That simply staying one
step to the right side of the law is not acceptable (which
implies to me that the laws are not very good if going
right up to their edge is bad) ?
This is a good book and an interesting and thought provoking
read. I only took one star off because the author was clearly
biased. But strangely, that does not detract from the read, and
at least makes it clear where the author stands.

then you should read this book, because all the dirty tricks that IBM used in doing business are laid out and followed by Microsoft. The reading is a bit tedious but once you get by that you find interesting tidbits like the printer that IBM would install for one price, if you needed more speed from it they'd send out a tech who would futz around for a while, throw a switch which would increase capacity and you'd then be charged double. Microsoft follows this strategy in software with Windows XP Home and Professional, throw a switch and double the price, very neat!
There are loads of other fun tricks that IBM pulled, can't remember them all because I read the book 5 or 6 years ago.

"Big Blue" was arguably one of the best books, if not *the* best, on the topic of corporate monopolies to come out in the 80's. If you are interested in the history of IT and its role in the overall business world this book really is worth your time. Delamarter gets into a lot of detail about the history of the mainframe business as it evolved from the 50's through the 70's, and captures why people thought IBM was purely evil back in the day. From a modern perspective, Delamarter misses the rise of the PC business and the colossal mistake IBM made when it ceded that business in equal parts to Intel and Microsoft, but to be fair this was still unfolding at the time this book was written. The ideal reader would probably be an MBA or Business Law student who is researching the history of monopolies as it applies to the IT industry in the 70's and 80's, and in that respect this book would function as a primary reference, and an excellent read in general if you have the motivation to tackle this subject.

I read this book about 92. Picked it up at a book liquidation sale in 90. When I read it, my jaw dropped to the floor and I was numb for a week. This is IBM exposed as never before by someone who served on the Justice Dept. in their prosecution of IBM for anti-trust charges, which it should have be convicted for. But we who have seen the Microsoft case essentially dropped know how that all works.

IBM's early history, in fact, Watson's early history which included the important history of NCR Cash Registers and big business practices of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. You don't really know how dirty big business is till you read this book. IBM did not get to where it was because they were smart or creative. They did it through abusive of business and law, violating laws all along the way. They lost their market when they failed to maintain their abuse of law and did not keep all things "in house" in building the personal computer, for which they did not really see a big market, anyway.

This is also a great book for anyone who truly wants to understand the personal computer industry that began maybe in the late 70s. And what you read about Big Blue could no doubt be written about Microsoft as well, if their true story was told.

If you want to really understand how IBM fell from grace and why America lost their edge in the computer industry, this is the book. For the life of me, I have no idea why this book never got the attention I think it should have. I never hear about it when I hear IBM, Microsoft, or anything to do with the computer industry, antitrust, or the like.

It has been suggested by a couple other reviews that Delamarter was one-sided in his book. What??? You got to be kidding me. Delamarter presented documented facts. No 1 side about it! He was frustrated that IBM was let off the hook. The author might want to investigate back room politics a little more or perhaps research how business can serve government in interesting ways that further government agenda. But facts can be interpreted any way you like. As long as the facts are right, they are objective and can be multi-sided. But some have lots to fear in seeing Delamarter expose the bitter truth of Big Blue.

A landmark book for business history, computer industry history, antitrust law, and how big business has really operated for centuries. You aren't really smart or in the know till you have read this great under-rated book. I found it very easy to read and you get quite caught up into it with no problem. Run and get it while you can. It is not cheap. Maybe some have bought it up to get it off the market. If you find it cheap or its in your library, get it and read it quick. It even would explain much about our current economic crisis.