OK IBM is now in charge. It seemed like yesterday when Telelogic took on the Rhapsody torch. I wonder why IBM didn't do business with I-Logix a couple of years ago.

That lack of IBM's awareness worries me.

Will IBM use Rhapsody as a cash cow? UML is a language. Languages evolve. Rhapsody has evolved with UML. Does IBM understand that? Will they allow Rhapsody to continue to evolve?

OK, if Rhapsody stands still (which looks likely due to IBM's past history), how long before a competitor catches up? Which competitor do we think is in the best position to take over?

In my opinion all a competitor has to do is to replicate the back-end code generation scheme Rhapsody uses.

I don't think so ...
IBM has dissapeared in the embedded market with their modeling tools ... because they didn't realized its importance (as always .. thanks IBM for Microsoft) but now they have ... and they had to ... because it's obviously one of the fastest growing market (well it took them a while)

IBM is back ... with the best modeling tool for embedded systems in the world .. and I hope they are going to make it even better...

.. but at least the competitors have a new (old) BIG enemy ... which keeps the world turning ...

[quote="Bob Senegal"]IBM is back ... with the best modeling tool for embedded systems in the world .. and I hope they are going to make it even better...
quote]

There is no doubt that Rhapsody is the best modelling tool for embedded systems in the world at the minute but the same could have been said for Rational Rose RT when IBM became custodians. I hope they do make it even better too but I seriously doubt they will.

Anyone know of any tools IBM have bought and continued to develop?

My impression is that IBM's strategy is to purchase SW tools which have already been developed sufficiently to make them best-in-class rather than develop 'best-in-class'. A bit like a successful car salesman has no loyalty to a particular brand but he makes sure he always has the particular franchise that will maximise his profit by providing what his customers want.

Does the IBM sales team know how to feedback to a development team and maintain loyality to a product? Can anyone give me an example? I obviously don't know the history of all their tools but here's what I think I do know:

Rational Clearcase : appears to be doing well but has it evolved since IBM? I've never used it as I've tended to go for lighter equivalents.
Rational RequisitePro : I don't know of anybody using it.
Rational Rose RT : best-in-class when IBM took it over but they didn't move it forward.
Rational Apex aka Ada Developer : best-in-class when IBM took it over but they've not developed it and actually threatened to axe it. Still being used.
Rational Rose : IBM had, and still have, a combination of a popular UML tool, Rose, and a code gen tool, Rose RT, that they could have merged to give something to compete with Rhapsody. They recognised that enough to give the tools a common name, and therefore create an impression of an integrated solution, but they didn't really follow that through to a reality. Rose leaves it to the user to create his own code-gen module. A bit like providing a C++ editor without the compiler. Rose is therefore a favourite of people who want to design in UML without validation. Rose RT users don't use UML.

Anyway, I want to believe but I have no reason to believe. How many engineers are likely to believe the official sales and marketing hype? I guess we just have to wait and see. In the meantime it's worth keeping an eye on other tools although I think Rhapsody's closest rival is at least a couple of years behind.

rose rt was the best modelling tool at this time ... a long time ago ... would you try to make it up to date (it's not a UML tool) or would you buy the best existing tool if you could

as you said ... we just have to wait and see !