[Thinkpad] One Shareholder's Viewpoint

As a longtime Thinkpad user I have mixed feelings that IBM has sold the
PC division.

But, I am also an IBM shareholder, and that side of me has no mixed
feelings at all. I'm happy IBM has done it. In one fell swoop my
investment:
-shed a marginally profitable operation that was getting squeezed from
many sides
-made some cash
-diversified me to China.

I gotta say, that last point is one of my favorites. China is a growing
econonomy -- and I want in on it. In the last few months, I was even
thinking of buying some shares in some of the bigger companies, or maybe
even shares in a Chinese mutual or index fund. But, now I don't have to
! The management of IBM did it for me, and they're even going to take a
hand in managing my investment for years to come. It doesn't get better
than this.

Will they make better Thinkpads or worse Thinkpads ? I don't know. As
an investor, I'm not sure I care. I want them to make money. If they
make high-end Thinkpads with high-end profit margins for people like us
on this list, great. If they change direction to compete with the
commodity PC manufacturers, that's great too. If they do both, maybe
that's even greater.

As a geek I spend lots of time on my Thinkpad. It is my primary
computer, despite the several other more powerful desktop computers that
I own. It travels with me a lot and helps me produce a lot of good
systems that (I hope!) improve the quality of life of about half the
people of the industrialized world. It crashes so rarely that I don't
even remember the last time it happened. Its predecessor Thinkpad
lasted 3 years and took 3 separate 5-foot drops to hard tile floors
before I decided to retire it. When my current Thinkpad needs replacing
I won't hesitate to buy another Thinkpad -- if there is one.

-Bob

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Received on Fri Dec 10 02:43:16 2004