IBM Doubles Incentive to $8,000 for Ditching Sun
IBM has doubled the incentive for users to ditch Sun equipment.
According to a report on InformationWeek, Big Blue is taking advantage of the uncertainty surrounding the Sun-Oracle merger and upped the offering for those willing to switch from Sun to IBM.
IBM’s rewards program was launched last April and applied to Sparc-based Sun hardware, such as the Sparc, UltraSparc, and Sparc 64 servers, as well as Fujitsu systems that run on Sparc chips. Previously the company offered $4,000 in software and services for every Sun Spar processor replaced with an IBM Power server. The company will now offer $8,000 in software or services for every Sun Sparc processor replaced with an IBM Power server. IBM has helped 1,640 customers migrate from other manufacturers' hardware in the last year, thanks to the rewards program.
The aggressive offering comes after IBM made significant movement towards acquiring Sun Microsystems. The company missed out when Oracle swooped in and bought the struggling company in late April. Expected to be stitched up this summer, Oracle will fork out $7.4 billion for the company.

Yes and yes. I'm wondering how this will pan out. That said, IBM has been doing it for a year, with no trouble from the antitrust police so who knows..
That is all good and wonderful but I think we need to understand why amidst this great and powerful news is seems that H|OCP is putting out even more hard hitting news such as the following (actual link on their site...Thank you God)
http://www.esquire.com/the-side/video/megan-fox-video?bcpid=21913413001&bctid=21845810001
Seriously because of the things Sun was complaining about on their offer, you can't really blame IBM.
I'll be the first to say that despite her trashy tattoos, Megan Fox is a slammin' hottie but seriously, at least try and keep it tech related.
If you want to look at videos of pretty girls go ahead, but don't complain that IBM/Sun are not pretty girls in bikinis.
Here's to hoping...
Though, it's funny to read this while downloading Win 7 RC with a Sun Java applet from the MS site.
Hey...I was just running through the news at H|OCP and this is what they posted. She claims to be a nerd so i figure it's more relevant than IBM antitrust blah. I wonder what would happen if IBM used her to coax companies from Sun?
You can't negotiate contracts with customers to boycott your competitors.
Its just like when you can get a cable TV discount by being a new customer, while existing customers get screwed. Only people getting screwed here are those who already bought IBM servers.
Also, I'm not sure I like the term "missed out", when it refers to IBM and Sun. They decided not to proceed with the purchase, how is that missing out? If Oracle swooped in and stole them while the negotiations were ongoing, then, I'd agree, but it was nothing like that.
Yes and wrong, you could consider it like a rebate. But nothing they are doing here is illegal. It's like intel giving $80 in free gpu software or a game. What intel is in trouble for is offering the OEM sellers money and other benefits, not the customer.
Nothing skanks out a chick faster than trashy tattoos.