Take a look at the record Q4 earnings. King Midas? Love ya, and agree; but where did these huge earnings come from. I also wish IBM was solving their own problems. Also with they had not sold the PC Co to Lenovo. They are out of sync with time.

Not a chance. The hw group is more likely, but even that is a 1 in a million possibility. Integrated packages are the basis of IBM's strategy, and Services provide that. Giving that up would be giving up on the company, and things are looking ok for 2008-2010 from an IBM exec perspective.

Do the math. Look at the earnings and the change in the exchange rate. If the exchange rate for the USA dollar had stayed the same in 2007 IBM would be posting earnings that are below expectation and the stock would be diving. The sub-prime mortgage mess and George W's energy policy is what helped IBM this year. It wasn't through IBM's efforts.