Lou Gerstner
Chairman and CEO, IBM
Turning IBM around, and putting a billion dollars behind Linux
Rating
88Impact score
Domains
EnterpriseServicesLinux
Scouting report
Arrived from RJR Nabisco in 1993 at an IBM losing billions and widely expected to be broken up, kept it whole, and pivoted it from hardware to services. The decision that matters here was announced in 2000: roughly a billion dollars of IBM investment into Linux, plus lawyers and patent cover. Nothing did more to make Linux acceptable in enterprise procurement.
Curator’s note
The suit who made Linux safe to buy.
Portrait
Painted from a photograph of Lou Gerstner by Kenneth C. Zirkel, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
Sources
- 01Louis V. Gerstner Jr. en.wikipedia.org
- 02History of IBM en.wikipedia.org
- 03Linux adoption en.wikipedia.org