Uh, thanks for the wiki link to the dot-com bubble, I guess.

a) I don't really care about. I doubt much has changed and I don't think it was from fiscal necessity. Also, if they were shell-shocked in 2006 I can't imagine things have improved since then. It's actually disappointing as I rather admire IBM's leadership in open source. Alas, much easier to damage a reputation than build and keep a good one.

As for b), okay point taken. So, don't work at IBM, if you can help it.