If IBM Suddenly Vanished in the 1980s, There Would be Chaos. Not Anymore.
IBM may very well hit a 52-week low later today:
IBM has its name on so many things in computer history books (and even times predating modern computers). For several decades many of the more/most important advancements in computing were attributed - or at least attributable - to IBM.
Now? Nothing.
If IBM was to vanish overnight, would much change?
Red Hat users can move to another distro or RHEL clone (to the extent possible after IBM curtailed cloning). A lot of the branded things of Red Hat have commoditised (non-IBM) alternatives.
Mainframes? One can migrate away from them.
After IBM sold some of its crown jewels to Lenovo and abandoned (or offloaded) some of its other businesses, what would really change?
POWER? No need. It's a relic. IBM divests too much.
How many companies still use IBM for server hosting? Not many.
Sure, some receive support from IBM staff, but they can move their systems to something else.
IBM's management has rendered IBM more irrelevant than ever before; with financial engineering that culls the more experienced workers there's no "human capital" left at IBM (except for those who feel stuck there and are longing to leave IBM). █