IBM Vs. Microsoft -- Software Superbowl -- Big Blue Sheds Suits . . . And Socks

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The "new" IBM looks a lot like Microsoft.

The old IBM of countless layers of management was an army of white men wearing white shirts and blue suits. The old army is still here, walking around the IBM programming center, a complex of 16 connected buildings built in 1967 on 600 acres previously occupied by alligators. It seems unfair that the IBM foot soldiers have to wear throat-choking ties as the Florida sun broils their balding heads.

The vanguard of the new IBM are developers of the OS/2 software, a youthful group of men and women given to casual wear, even jeans, who work so hard that none show a tan.

"Look at us. We look like the stereotypical IBM folks,"Scott Kliger, a 23-year-old programmer wearing jeans and shoes without socks, says jokingly.

Yet in several ways, it's still IBM.

This campus has artificial lakes, similar to those found at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters. But it's hard to imagine anyone here dipping a toe, much less diving head first as Microsoft's executives have done at their lake.

Artwork displayed at Microsoft is daring, even weird. IBM's artwork is tame and unchallenging. Hallways at IBM are tidy enough to please a drill sergeant. Some hallways at Microsoft look more like a dormitory for students away from home for the first time. Actually, many of Microsoft's employees are just out of college.

Both companies are big on security, but IBM hallways are full of television monitors displaying company videos, such as PROTECT IBM INFORMATION, a scene that suggests a somewhat benevolent Big Brother.

The old IBM crowd took the company to soaring profits. New products were developed internally and thrust on the market like manna for the Israelites. Now IBM has recorded its first loss and Chairman John Akers wants a leaner company closer to customers and quicker to the market with products. The focus here on beating Microsoft suggests the image of an old battleship, weak from a torpedo hit, slowly coming round to strike a nimble PT boat.

The push for smaller groups responsible for their work is similar to Microsoft's approach.

Tommy Steele, a IBM veteran of more than 25 years, is director of the programming center here. His group is more autonomous than in the past. He thinks changes at IBM have made the company more competitive, though he admits some employees have found the changes difficult.

"This was a tough transition for some of us within this company," says Steele. "You don't own any decisions - the team makes the decisions."

While developing OS/2, IBM asked customers what they wanted and invited them in to check out the work in progress. Sharing work in development would have been heresy in the past.

Like their counterparts at Microsoft, the IBM programmers believe their work is the best in the world. They have worked long hours to get the job done, often at the cost of being away from spouses and children for long periods of time, often seven days a week for months.

IBM and Microsoft are both proud organizations. Microsoft cannot stand to see a competitor thrive or even look like it might grow at Microsoft's expense. That's partly why Microsoft trashes OS/2. An internal memo by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates insulted IBM engineers by referring to their software code as poor. Here, IBM engineers say those comments and others by Microsoft helped motivate them, but they won't criticize their Redmond rivals.

It would be human to be envious of Microsoft. The industry press makes jokes about IBM and treats Gates' utterances like papal bulls.

Then there's all that money in Redmond. Microsoft's millionaires are said to number as many as 2,000.

"Just because they're millionaires doesn't make them better than anyone who doesn't have anything," says Jim Macon, a 29-year-old engineer.

"IBM pays me fine,"says Steve Woodward, a 31-year-old programmer. But about Gates, America's richest man: Wouldn't you like to wipe that competitive smirk of his face? The answer from Woodward is as bland as guys in blue suits.

"Putting a grin on our customers' faces is the motivation" says Woodward. "If they're happy, they'll come back time and time again and we'll have revenue to produce excellent products."