Strategically, HP is (at) an interesting crossroads.

Anyone making hardware is in for a very painful transition. Equipment is going commodity.

This is all part of Sun's effort to remain relevant by making Solaris more attractive to users and blunting the growing interest in Linux by offering their own open-source technology.

None of this stuff is going to change things for users in the next 12 months.

[So is IBM's announcement the beginning of the shift to on-demand computing? Some say absolutely:] We're on the tip of a change on the order of magnitude of [the beginning of] the client server in late '80s, ... Our estimates are that outsourcing and on-demand computing will cut IT costs [buying and operating] in half over the next five years.

An important chunk of Apple's market is people who use Adobe applications. Those folks are going to stay away from the new machines until they're sure their software works.

The pay-for-use model is an innovation, but there is a very unflinching standardization.

We're on the tip of a change on the order of magnitude of [the beginning of] the client server in late '80s. Our estimates are that outsourcing and on-demand computing will cut IT costs [buying and operating] in half over the next five years.