Ask HN: What happened to IBM?

The history of IBM has long interested me because, for a tech company, it is truly ancient.

It seems like for the last 20 years or so IBM has degenerated from a source of innovation and forward thinking into a second rate consulting shop dependant on underpaid foreign labor.

When I was in the job market a while back I was completely shocked by the transformation and current perception of IBM as a spin factory that produces uninteresting and low quality work.

What the hell happened?