The recent threats made by Microsoft towards the open source software (OSS) community appear to have done little to worry South African OSS companies.
Shall a legal threat (or a toothless tiger) ever get some real teeth, people can easily relocate. Microsoft could soon be driving developers and companies out of America, essentially destroying its own economy and leading to recession. Putting two and two together, might Microsoft already have regrets?
Ubuntu "took off" not because it was very good or very easy. Ubuntu "took off" because of ShipIt, i.e. because of a multi-millionaire subsidising its mass distribution (at a personal cost).
In a healthy company, the CEO and CFO would get sacked on the spot for doing so. But IBM is not a healthy company, it's just a sick cow being milked to death.