RE: elephants

["Myron Gochnauer" goch@xxxxxxxx]

Steady on, there! The elephant may not have been sleeping, but the point is
that IBM's own interests and behaviour *inadvertently* caused serious harm
to XyQuest and XyQuest's market position. The sleeping giant metaphor ---
often used to describe US relations with Canada --- is meant to suggest that
the difference in size is so great that IBM/USA can cause serious harm to
others without even noticing. In other words, harm can occur in these
relationships even though there is no intent to harm, and no ill will. IBM
was not being malicious, it was just "being big".  And then there's
soft-wood lumber, west-coast salmon, the Canadian dollar... ouch.

Myron

>> An appealing notion, but we all remember IBM as the elephant that rolled
>> over in its sleep and crushed Signature.

>A very parochial view, IMO. They weren't asleep; they made a strategic
change,
that affected the entire corporation, top to bottom, to stem arterial
bleeding.
The people who supported Signature were not happy campers; but they operated
at
a relatively powerless, low level. XyWriters tend to think this happened
specifically to screw XyWrite, which is ridiculous. (Although everyone here
keeps gleefully repeating this nonsense.)