I don't think the author knows what motivated IBM to make the change and just tries to make it look like IBM is Yahoo! Yahoo was a failing company trying desperately to reboot its revenue and culture. IBM on the other hand is an extremely successful enterprise that nurtures a company culture that has become a legend of its own. IBM has so far succeeded morphing into different shapes and forms to adapt to a very competitive market and ever shifting technology paradigms. Why assume, with such passionate and condescending arguments, that IBM does not know what it's doing?