IBM Corp’s new alphaWorks World Wide Web site, where it plans to post details of future Internet-related technologies and products on which it is working is a disconcertingly challenging development. Since it is likely that there will be plenty of other companies working on products similar to some of the ones that IBM describes, companies will be driven to go public immediately with their version of anything IBM describes, to ensure that IBM doesn’t steal a monopoly on hearts and minds for the IBM version. IBM says it will also one day allow others to describe their own alpha stage products at the site.
