The company I work for -- we have a couple of IBM products. They bought Big Fix from Trend Micro -- that's what our organization uses for patch management. We also use their Enterprise Service Bus software. We're trying to get a monitoring solution for the ESB software...... and of course they make such software. However -- it is such silo'ed shit.. you can't just buy 1 product to cover your NOC / Tier 2 Support use cases like our other ESB software....... they have such common use cases split across the product lines that you need 4 products. That........ is....... shit. Delightful marketing. The other thing -- they have *so many* products; their own sales people don't even know everything they sell.

I have an older model that the "fix" is this --- in fact I'm using smFanControl now. If I don't the temp of the CPU/GPU goes over 200 degrees while watching netflix. Otherwise; browser its around 116 or 117. Can you recommend the repair service -- I've "baked" my logic board about 4 months ago.

Also, it can sometimes easy system integration issues. In healthcare, for example, MediTech HIS, Lab, ITS modules integrate really well together. If you have MediTech HIS..... Sunquest Lab..... Cerner Radiology......... expect a LOT of development time to get those systems integrated. And when it's done, it still won't be as seamless as having it from all one company. Now, if you buy Oracle....... getting all Oracle products doesn't mean they work together well. Or any company......... it could be they just bought the software (and the company) and halfway integrate it with another package they bought (and company).......... that happens a lot. GE....... McKession....... Cerner........ Mysis.........

I don't have any issue with switching formats between Office 2003 and 2007

In the business that I work in, healthcare....... a majority of the users are nurses on the floor. There isn't an all encompassing hospital centric software that does clinical, accounting, materials management, admissions, and a slew of other business related functions in the open source world. Could the users use OpenOffice instead of MS office? Sure. Will OO.org automatically integrate with the software the hospital uses for transcription, radiology, and pathology reports? Not nicely. Is it worth the extra $$ to try and integrate it? No with potential lives on the line - no. Are there small niches where open source is used and works? You bet. I do integration of different hospital systems and I use Mirth. www.mirth.com One of the best java apps I've ever used.

Hmm sorry. But you know what? I don't believe much in big corporate mergers anymore. Especially after the AT&T & Cingular Wireless debacle. Oh god. Save me from the cell phone companies. Do it the old fashioned way...... build the best product.. and beat the customers away from them. So.. do they do that? No. They just buy their competitors. Sounds like they deserve to do that if they can afford it.. but well you know what? That's just one less database they have to compete with. Blah on that.