Washingtonpost.com: IBM Makes A Play for Microsoft´s Customers

March 30 2006

Interesting to see this is in the mainstream media even before the press release is posted on ibm.com...

International Business Machines Corp. said it will roll out an aggressive strategy today to lure business customers away from rival Microsoft Corp., offering bounties of up to $20,000 to sales partners who can persuade companies to make the switch. ...
The plan seeks to use IBM's 100 [sic - should be "hundreds of"] business partners who work with companies' IT divisions as its de facto sales force. IBM will reward each business partner $20 per individual e-mail account, up to $20,000, for every company that stops using Microsoft's Exchange server and Outlook e-mail system and begins using IBM's Linux-based Lotus Notes e-mail system and Domino server system.
The gloves are off....

Link (free registration required): Washingtonpost.com: IBM makes a play for Microsoft's customers >
(And watch for more coverage elsewhere today)

Ed Brill Zürich Klotten Airport Category:  Lotus  Add/View Comments [47]

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  1. 1  Duffbert http://www.twduff.com | 3/30/2006 1:11:02 PM

    Whoa! Any bad thing we said about being proactive and playing by the same rules, we now take that back!

  1. 2  Rob McDonagh www.CaptainOblivious.com | 3/30/2006 1:20:51 PM

    Sweet! Putting a bounty on Outlook users - I like it!

  1. 3  Alan Goldt  | 3/30/2006 1:47:42 PM

    Wait, I thought you just put on the yellow gloves. Now I am confused!

  1. 4  Alex Wilson  | 3/30/2006 1:49:06 PM

    Now this is the way it should be done. Reward the partners that have kept Notes/Domino alive for so long. Perfect... I love the thought of putting a bounty on Outlook/Exchange accounts.

  1. 5  Paul Robichaux http://www.e2ksecurity.com | 3/30/2006 2:16:06 PM

    So, it's bad when MS does it to IBM ({ Link } and it's good when IBM does it to MS. Nicely situational!

  1. 6  Stuart McIntyre http://macsfacts.blogspot.com | 3/30/2006 2:16:20 PM

    Excellent Ed - I trust this is a worldwide program in SWG?

    Just adding up the Winback dollars I would have earn't in the last 3 years if we'd had the scheme then - damn ;-)

  1. 7  Greg Wojcicki  | 3/30/2006 2:40:41 PM

    Gloves off and brass knuckles on, it's about time!!

    "I've never seen so many Exchange shops ripe for the plucking!"...with apologies to Steve Ballmer.

  1. 8  Rob McDonagh www.CaptainOblivious.com | 3/30/2006 3:14:57 PM

    @5: I believe they call this a counter-punch, Paul. Heh...

    And, in light of your link to Ed's comments about Microsoft's original 'bounty' program not being in the best interests of the customer, I would like to point out that having IBM aggressively counter MS in the marketplace IS in the best interests of the customer. Competition creates value for customers. Now the customer has more of an opportunity to hear two very agressive sales pitches rather than one. As a customer of both IBM and MS, I call that a win.

  1. 9  Christopher Byrne http://www.controlscaddy.com/ | 3/30/2006 3:59:14 PM

    @8 - Hate to say this, but Paul did a good job identifying words that show at least the appearance of a double standard.

  1. 10  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 3/30/2006 4:08:29 PM

    Fair point.... I'll take that criticism. One point though - at least IBM is being upfront about this program. Show me the MS press release where they announce their bounty, so that the information is in the public domain?

  1. 11  Paul Robichaux http://www.e2ksecurity.com | 3/30/2006 4:21:17 PM

    @10: I'll reserve comment until I see the actual press release; as of 1615 EST today, it's not visible on { Link }

  1. 12  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 3/30/2006 4:34:59 PM

    This is also covered on C|Net... { Link }

  1. 13  David Bell  | 3/30/2006 4:42:59 PM

    Is this for moves to Linux only or has that been misinterpreted by the author ?

  1. 14  Steven Joseph  | 3/30/2006 4:55:24 PM

    Too bad the MS spokesman neglected to say (or the reporter failed to confirm) that Micosquash has delayed the mainstream launch of Office until NEXT year, not this fall.

  1. 15  Joerg Michael  | 3/30/2006 5:10:38 PM

    ... begins using IBM's Linux-based Lotus Notes e-mail system ...

    Did I miss something? Notes is Linux based? Whoa! ;-)

  1. 16  Chris Miller http://www.IdoNotes.com | 3/30/2006 5:40:35 PM

    So they are trying to move them off of Windows too? Same bounty for AIX and Linux? Or just Linux?

  1. 17  Giulio www.buzznotes.com.au | 3/30/2006 6:16:35 PM

    @5 Paul, I know what you mean. I can see the bias in opinions here, but there is a difference between IBM's strategy and MS. IBM is simply offerring an incentive without adding any mis-information, like some application which mis-reports your legacy environment.

    But there is still a risk of someone trying to make a sale/conversion for the sake of the bounty. But this bounty is not that much per user, because it's still a big project to convert 1000's of users. Considering it is a sweetner for the BP, they could use, (some/all of), that margin and pass it on as a sweetner to the client too.

    Never the less, this counter by IBM brings some competition back to MS without using spin...

  1. 18  Ken Lin http://kenlin.com | 3/30/2006 8:49:55 PM

    Here's the IBM.com posting { Link }

  1. 19  Axel  | 3/31/2006 12:10:49 AM

    I think its way better than IBM complaining about Microsofts business practices.

    For me its inside accepatable limits.

    This is market economies, no who-washes-whitest contest.

    Good luck to anybody to win the bonus. :-)

    This is way better than romantic techi whining:

    We had the better solution, but the ruthless guys with the blue flag had the better marketing and the customers - who are stupid by definition - believed the lies of the guys with the blue flag.

  1. 20  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 3/31/2006 1:10:36 AM

    @15 / @16 ... the details of the promotion require a switch to some combination of:

    -Domino running on Linux

    -Domino Web Access users running on Linux desktops

    -The forthcoming Notes 7.0x plug-in for Linux (which runs on the IBM Workplace Managed client).

  1. 21  Ben Rose http://www.lnug.org.uk | 3/31/2006 2:32:18 AM

    @5/@9,

    Not a double standard in my eyes at all.

    Ed rightfully criticised MS on the Oracle thing back then as it wasn't the kind of thing that IBM would do...THEN!

    Now the gloves are off and the rules have changed. This is bare knuckle stuff at it's best. :-D

  1. 22  Steve Cogan  | 3/31/2006 3:22:25 AM

    Also reported in the UK's "The Register" today...

    { Link }

    As someone who has recently run Domino on Linux I can't believe just how easy it is to implement :-)

  1. 23  Nathan T. Freeman  | 3/31/2006 4:00:52 AM

    So the switch has to be specifically to Linux ON THE DESKTOP!??!

    Then this is boring. At least in a pre-Hannover world.

    You could have at least included OSX conversions. Especially in light of their move to Intel.

  1. 24  kapali  | 3/31/2006 4:09:48 AM

    [23] - It says some combination of, so I guess Linux Desktop is just one of the options there.

  1. 25  Wild Bill http://www.billbuchan.com | 3/31/2006 7:58:05 AM

    Excellent stuff.....

    ---* Bill

  1. 26  Paul Robichaux http://www.e2ksecurity.com | 3/31/2006 9:17:29 AM

    @21: well, you're certainly entitled to your opinion, but it still seems pretty clear to me that IBM is now embracing the very practice they were complaining about when only MS was doing it. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is the phrase that comes to mind.

  1. 27  david racicot  | 3/31/2006 9:55:59 AM

    @26. Nope. As mentioned above no lies / spin involved. Simply a superior product (with plenty of FACT behind it) that wins for the customer.

  1. 28  Mike Wissinger  | 3/31/2006 10:59:15 AM

    Will we have a release of Sametime to offer on Linux as part of the package?

  1. 29  David Vasta david.davidandkelly.com | 3/31/2006 11:23:04 AM

    OUTSTANDING!

  1. 30  kapali  | 3/31/2006 11:32:01 AM

    [26] - what MS did was FUD; this isn't - you can call it marketing pitch perhaps, though, I must say that the trend is shocking.

  1. 31  Ken Grace http://blogs.tap.ibm.com/weblogs/page/kengrace@us.ibm.com | 3/31/2006 11:32:05 AM

    ZD Net UK called the progam a "bribe".

    { Link }

    For more info, see my posting on my internal weblog:

    { Link }

  1. 32  Sean Jennings  | 3/31/2006 12:22:01 PM

    This is great news, the type of agressive promotion that IBM needs to counteract the Redmond FUD machine.

    If they don't already, perhaps IBM could do a special offer for academia and research institutes. Unix got a big boost from AT&T giving it away to Universities. They're also far more likley to be embracing Linux too

  1. 33  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 3/31/2006 12:54:58 PM

    @Paul R -- I still don't see it as completely a double-standard. When the market has clear information about a rebate, it's like the factory-to-dealer incentives in the car business. A customer who is considering a migration may get a reduction in the billed services. They might get an extra in terms of training. In the MS world, the only reason we know about the bounty there is leaks and press coverage. It's not upfront. The buyer can't take it into consideration.

    @Nathan -- no, not just linux destkop... either server and/or desktop (browser or forthcoming rich client)

  1. 34  David Bell  | 3/31/2006 12:56:40 PM

    @32 - I am working with a university right now deploying Domino 7 on AIX amongst a whole lot of other things. They already get a very good deal.

  1. 35  Paul Robichaux http://www.e2ksecurity.com | 3/31/2006 3:20:54 PM

    @30: no, it wasn't FUD. MS offered its partners cash incentives to get customers to migrate-- just like IBM is now doing. That's business, not FUD.

    @33: not so fast-- the initial reports of IBM's bounty came from press coverage, just like the reports of Ballmer's speech made MS' program public.

    As for whether the buyer can treat this as a rebate or not, let's wait until we see which IBM partners pass it on to the customer and which ones keep the $$$ for themselves-- and given what you've repeatedly said about the ethics of partners, I see no reason to think that many customers will be offered rebates or price cuts. Of course, now customers know to *ask* for them, which I suspect will irk some partners who would rather have kept the money to raise their margins.

  1. 36  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 3/31/2006 3:24:47 PM

    Paul, it was just a timing /content management issue -- the Post got it from a press release that was sent to them before being posted on ibm.com. I could have posted the press release first thing in the morning.

  1. 37  Paul Robichaux http://www.e2ksecurity.com | 3/31/2006 3:39:42 PM

    Hey, I bet MS will be happy to sell you a better content management solution :)

  1. 38  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 3/31/2006 4:25:40 PM

    Paul, this is silly - didn't you write about "Exchange Hosted" in your in your newsletter yesterday right about the time MS's press release came out? It's routine for vendors to send press releases out to various parties in advance.

  1. 39  chris bordeleau http://chris.bordeleau.net | 3/31/2006 8:35:38 PM

    Just an FYI - This has been picked up by slashdot { Link } . Normal anti-notes banter of course in action...

  1. 40  Mikkel Heisterberg http://blog.lekkim.heisterberg.dk | 4/1/2006 1:41:32 AM

    The story got Slashdotted ({ Link } It is quite funny to see how the story is perceived outside the Notes/Domino community.

    /lekkim

  1. 41  Peter Wilson  | 4/1/2006 2:46:26 AM

    Seriously, the Hannover developers should read just some of these comments { Link }

  1. 42  Nathan  | 4/1/2006 9:26:27 AM

    @41 I bet the Hannover developers will read the thread, but I hope they ignore 98% of it. Most of the posts are tired old complaints that were addressed ages ago.

  1. 43  Charles Robinson  | 4/1/2006 3:21:59 PM

    @Paul Robichaux - The issue is Microsoft *never* issued a press release about their kickbacks. At least IBM did that. [Note: I searched for about 10 minutes and never found such a press release from Microsoft.]

    @Ed - what about customers who are already Domino shops who are investing in Domino on linux? If it's such a hot priority for IBM can I get a little something for furthering it along? :-P

  1. 44  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 4/2/2006 12:50:20 PM

    @37 - Microsoft sell content management solutions?

  1. 45  Mikhail Kozlov  | 4/3/2006 11:44:48 AM

    @44) Sure it does. Content Management Server 2002 SP2 ({ Link } if you can't wait until SharePoint 2007 :)

  1. 46  Paul Robichaux http://www.e2ksecurity.com | 4/3/2006 2:47:21 PM

    @43: somehow it's hard for me to believe that the Notes community would have blithely accepted MS' program if they had merely issued a press release.

  1. 47  Mike Robinson http:/www.invcs.com | 4/7/2006 4:26:05 AM

    I hope the Hannover developers ignore 100% of the slashdot article. I read the first paragraph and with 10 seconds closed my browser tab. Filed with relative importance to Elvis and UFO sightings, and free credit card offers...