Silicon Valley | 05/10/2004 | IBM to Microsoft: Don't take this personally, but we want to make you irrelevant

Silicon Valley | 05/10/2004 | IBM to Microsoft: Don't take this personally, but we want to make you irrelevant: "No matter how loudly IBM proclaims that it's not embarking on an anti-Microsoft strategy, its new pitch for 'client middleware' can hardly be seen as anything else. Today, IBM unveiled upgrades to its client, administration and portal software that will allow everything from PCs to smartphones to access the same data -- including Microsoft Office data -- using standards-based middleware instead of a Microsoft client. IBM said the middleware layer, IBM Workplace Client Technology, makes the choice of underlying operating system largely irrelevant. Its client technology can support Windows, Linux, Unix and, eventually, Mac OS. Motorola, PeopleSoft, Adobe Systems and Siebel Systems will announce plans for products that support the IBM software, providing large corporations with further alternatives to Microsoft business software applications. 'People are going to start accessing applications with more devices, that's the bet IBM is making,' James Governor, principal analyst with RedMonk, told TechWorld. 'The PC is not the most interesting device any more. That's why you need software to be componentized, so that you can mix and mach what components you need for each device. Microsoft always gives you the whole honking thing.'"