On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 12:03:01 +1200, Peter Reutemann quoted:
'Perhaps most importantly, the company is open sourcing the Power Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). These are "the definitions developers use for ensuring hardware and software work together on Power," the company explained.'
So what was “open” about the OpenPower Foundation before this? Some perceptive analysis here <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/08/20/ibm_openpower_isa/>, suggesting that the rise of RISC-V might be a factor, as well as a way to get round the current US-China trade/tariff tussle. Also: Finally, you cannot discount the Red Hat effect. Though IBM is no stranger to open-source software, perhaps its takeover of the Linux distro maker was a catalyst for, or part of, its decision to throw open, er, OpenPower, which was backed early on by Red Hat.