Last week I thought the 100th issue of this newsletter was going to be kinda flat. Not this week! Less than twelve hours after DevOps’ish 099 went out, the technology world confirmed change is constant; IBM to Buy Software Maker Red Hat for About $33 Billion. I think my friend and fellow Red Hatter Ben Cotton said it best, “It’s clearly a huge bet for IBM. But, they seem to be committed to letting Red Hat keep doing what has made them successful for the last 25 years. Only time will tell.” If you’re not in turmoil and you’re at a tech company consider yourself lucky. I have a great job, I have projects and programs to run, y’all still want Ansible so we’re still gonna work on it. I have long thought the thing I missed most about being in the Air Force was being a part of history every day. I get to do that for the second time in a lifetime. Hey, “At least it wasn’t Oracle.” ...

A one-stop shop for opinion, analysis, and/or coverage of the IBM acquistion of Red Hat. Official Statements IBM TO ACQUIRE RED HAT, COMPLETELY CHANGING THE CLOUD LANDSCAPE AND BECOMING WORLD’S #1 HYBRID CLOUD PROVIDER (why are we shouting?) Red Hat Red Hat + IBM: Creating the leading hybrid cloud provider Red Hat CEO, Jim Whitehurst A monumental day for open source and Red Hat Red Hat EVP and President, Products and Technologies, Paul Cormier Why IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer for the cloud industry IBM European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of Red Hat by IBM EU Press IBM to Acquire Linux Distributor Red Hat for $33.4 Billion Bloomberg IBM to acquire software company Red Hat for $34 billion Reuters IBM to Buy Software Maker Red Hat for About $33 Billion Bloomberg Red Hat gave Google and other buyers a chance to bid before IBM’s $34 billion offer, sources say CNBC This is fine: IBM acquires Red Hat Ars Technica Red Hat’s co-founder was unemployed and working in a closet when he started the company IBM is buying for $34 billion CNBC IBM’s board needs to take hard look at CEO Ginni Rometty Yahoo Finance ​Red Hat leaders praise IBM acquisition, but employees are worried ZDNet How the cloud wars forced IBM to buy Red Hat for $34 billion ZDNet IBM CEO Ginni Rometty insists the 63% premium the tech giant is paying for Red Hat is a ‘fair price’ CNBC IBM CEO Ginni Rometty Says $34 Billion Deal for Red Hat Will ‘Reset the Cloud Landscape’ Fortune IBM Buying Open Source Specialist Red Hat for $34 Billion Wired IBM to acquire cloud computing firm Red Hat for $34 billion CNN IBM is making the third-largest tech acquisition ever Recode IBM is betting the farm on Red Hat, and it better not mess up TechCrunch Forget Watson, the Red Hat acquisition may be the thing that saves IBM TechCrunch Turning Blue: IBM to Acquire Red Hat TechCrunch Analysts predict IBM’s $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat could be ‘game changing,’ but there are still plenty of reasons to be skeptical CNBC IBM sits draped over the bar at The Cloud or Bust saloon. In walks Red Hat The Register We spoke with 7 insiders about IBM’s $34 billion Red Hat takeover — here’s how the biggest software deal of all time came together Business Insider IBM Began Buying Red Hat 20 Years Ago TechCrunch Department of Justice approves $34B IBM acquisition of Red Hat WRAL Tech Wire Where IBM and Red Hat go from here ZDNet IBM to win unconditional EU okay for $34 billion Red Hat deal Reuters Red Hat signs off last set of numbers before it is likely gobbled by IBM The Register Brazil revocation of IBM-Red Hat deal approval likely to delay closing, attorney says WRAL TechWire Industry IBM Acquires Red Hat, Now Who Does Google Buy? CloudBees 🤮 Statement on the IBM acquisition of Red Hat Ubuntu Blog 🙄 2019 is the Year of Consolidation: Why IBM’s Deal with Red Hat is a Harbinger of Things to Come Cloud Foundry Blogs, Newsletters, Digital Media, etc. One Fish, Two Fish, Blue Fish Sporting New Red Hat Chris Short Red Hat and IBM: Elephants Can Dance Chris Aniszczyk Open source creators: Red Hat got $34 billion and you got $0. Here’s why. (this is VERY self-serving in my opinion but I understand the sentiment) TideLift So You’ve Been Acquired… John Mark IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat is a pivot to growth, but many questions remain SiliconAngle How IBM’s $34B Bid for Red Hat Will Spur DevOps Adoption DevOps.com IBM Acquires Red Hat to Create DevOps Behemoth DevOps.com IBM Hybrid Cloud Plan for Red Hat Hinges on Kubernetes Container Journal Red Hat takes over IBM I, Cringely IBM’s Old Playbook Stratechery On being acquired – a personal view Mike Bursell Red Hat’s Acquisition - A Triumph of Open Source Tom Tunguz Security Implications of IBM-Red Hat Merger Unclear Dark Reading IBM to acquire Red Hat in $34 billion deal The Stack Red vs Blue, why Red Hat acquisition may revolutionise IBM The ITAM Review Red Hat-IBM Acquisition: Clash of Cultures or Best of Both Worlds? The New Stack IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat gives it access to crown jewels: OpenShift and Ansible Computer Dealer News A ‘smoking good’ deal? Red Hat could prove a $34 billion bargain for IBM SiliconANGLE Note: All links shared here have gone through the normal DevOps’ish editioral and curation process.

This was an incredibly busy week in tech news and events. First, AllThingsOpen was this week. For me, this included the annual opensource.com Moderators meeting in Red Hat Tower. The conference was amazing but, I feel like it might have outgrown the Raleigh Convention Center. 4,100 people registered to attend AllThingsOpen and I’m pretty sure half of them tried to get to two talks I wasn’t able to attend due to crowds. I got to spend and even monopolize time with some truly amazing folks. If you were at AllThingsOpen and we weren’t able to connect my deepest apologies. GitHub had two significant outages this week that are discussed later. It’s amazing to me how technology professionals treat these complex services they use every day as if they’re air, water, and light. If you think running your code is hard, imagine how much harder it is to run the thing your code relies on. GitHub’s week definitely ended on a high note though. The “Microsoft acquisition of GitHub is complete. 🎉” ...

Every time, without fail, I mention anything resembling a political leaning in this newsletter I get negative feedback. This week, I am sure I will again. But, this message is personal so I’ve made it simple. VOTE. I don’t care what your stances on the issues are, whether you care if a pot-smoking gay couple can be photographers at your cousin’s wedding, nor what you think of these weird things that are happening on the planet. I only want you to VOTE. I gave up a huge part of my existence helping others enable voting in foreign countries because US citizens voted to put my team there. Afghanistan voted today in parliamentary elections. People died in Afghanistan to vote today. Brazil, Fiji, Ireland, Israel, Taiwan, and the United States have elections coming up this year. All I want is when it is your time, VOTE. Webinar: Actionable Continuous Delivery Metrics Want to deliver faster? Join our free webinar: Actionable Continuous Delivery Metrics. Gain insights into software delivery pipeline and learn to use metrics to improve your path to production. SPONSORED ...

I spent the week in Orlando. The first two days for work and the last three for play. This is the second business trip the family has been on with me in as many months. It’s interesting to chaos test your travel routines with weird bookings due to work needs. I try to spend very little time proving who I am or what I do when I travel. I’ve had horrific experiences traveling and I go out of my way to reduce the chances of that happening. I’ve optimized for smoother sailing through government and security checkpoints. My family has no status or extra vetting. It’s amazing to see what happens when traveling with them. Throwing a toddler into the mix changes everything. All systems seemed to be geared toward not having a toddler meltdown. We often comment here in the US how all the “added” security post-9/11 is more theater than actual security. We all have stories of smuggling something we forgot to take out of a bag through security. This makes me wonder about how much of what we do might actually be more theater than anything. Dashboards are great but, if the most important dashboard a team has is the one that only leadership looks at (never used by anyone else) perhaps that’s more theater than improved outcomes. What else in our day-to-day operations is theater and not adding any real value to our work? ...