Apple and IBM announced today the appointment of the senior officers and board of directors for Taligent, the joint operating system company the two formed last October. Joseph M. Guglielmi of IBM was named CEO, and Edward W. Birss of Apple was named COO of the independent company. Finally.

Why is this interesting? Well, it's not really. What is interesting about the announcement is that it shows that Apple and IBM are truly serious about this alliance and have passed all the major hurdles, the first of which was getting FTC approval. Taligent has over 160 employees already, and will be working in space leased from Apple until more permanent offices can be obtained. Similar and equally ambitious mergers have fallen by the wayside when two large and opinionated companies tried to work together, and the odds were good that this alliance would go that way too. Apple and IBM have risen above the infighting to set Taligent up, and now it's up to the programmers to produce the next generation of operating systems. Full speed ahead!

Information from:
Mark H. Anbinder -- mha@baka.ithaca.ny.us