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It is notable when an IT industry commentator such as Martin Butler weighs in with criticisms of Microsoft et al. Butler notes that what he terms the "Gang of Five", IBM, Microsoft, HP, Sun, and Oracle, generate around 70% of all profits generated in the IT industry. So the idea that advice from these players will be impartial and in an organisation's best interests is on the same level as believing that Noddy and Big Ears live at the bottom of my garden!

Butler comments:

Web services is the latest manifestation of the Gang of Five, .... they actually exist for the development of markets that the Gang of Five wish to exploit - specifically the creation of a service-based IT industry.

This is a model in which vendors licence applications as hosted services. No longer does a company or a user own a piece of software. With web services, every use and every instance is a service and thefore can be billed.

Many in the IT industry regard the US based hegemony of the gang of five as an inevitability. Interestingly however, Butler suspects that the attempt to move to a service industry model may actually backfire and allow new players to gain a footing.