No Leg to Stand On...

@Kevin Johnson - If Microsoft failed to convince the EC that it had a right to protect its intellectual property in Windows Server, then IBM will have a similarly uphill battle.

First, the Mainframe market is dominated by IBM in the same way Microsoft dominates the desktop market - with a 90+ percent marketshare. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer#Market

Second, they are making the same argument that Microsoft did: "We built this stuff. We have valuable IP in it. You can't just make us share it with our competitors!" The Commission didn't buy it with Microsoft, and I doubt they are going to give IBM special treatment.

With the air thick with hypocrisy, IBM is probably just now realizing they are on the other side of the antitrust game again. Perhaps IBM is finally regretting all that cheerleading they were doing for the Commission's case against Microsoft.