allowing computing workloads to run anywhere: whether it is in corporate data centres, on any of the big public clouds or a combination thereof. 让计算机工作可以在任何地方运行：不论是在公司数据中心、任何一个大型公共云或是两者合并。

There are plenty of ways for the merger, which is the largest in IBM's history, to go wrong, however. 但此次IBM历史上最大的一次收购有多种出错的可能。

One question is whether the added flexibility of such mixed systems 其中一个问题在于这种混合的体系中的额外灵活性

and the promise of not getting locked into any one vendor will be enough to lure firms onto IBM's new platform. 和不被锁定到任何一家供应商的承诺是否足以吸引公司入驻IBM的新平台。

They could shy away from the additional complexity and still prefer to put their data into one cloud. 他们可能会回避这种额外的复杂性，且仍宁愿将他们的数据放到一个云上。

Another is the risk of a cultural clash between IBM's still relatively strait-laced culture and Red Hat's freewheeling one. 另一个问题是IBM仍然相对古板的文化和红帽子自由文化之间的文化冲突风险。

Such concerns, in addition to the high price tag, explain why the firm's shares fell by 4% the day after the deal was announced. 除了高价格标签之外，这些担忧解释了为什么在交易宣布后的第二天，公司股价下跌4%。

And then there is the question of what the acquisition means for Watson, IBM's much-promoted AI business, which has disappointed so far. 还有一个问题是此次收购对Watson的意义，这家IBM大力追捧的AI公司到目前为止表现令人失望。

Some have suggested that buying Red Hat could mean that IBM will turn away from Watson, instead focusing even more on cloud computing. 一些人认为收购红帽子可能意味着IBM将脱离Watson，转而更多地关注云计算。

Yet the opposite is true: Red Hat's software containers are meant to be a vehicle to deliver AI everywhere. 但事实却相反：红帽子的软件容器注定要成为向各地运输AI的媒介。

The idea is that IBM's cloud failure held Watson back; now it has the chance to spread more widely. 其想法是IBM的在云上的失误抑制了Watson的发展；现在它有了大范围传播Watson的机会。

However the merger plays out, it has already produced one big winner: opensource software, 但并购完成，一个大赢家已经产生：开源软件，

which is developed collectively by firms that benefit from it and also by volunteer programmers. 由从此中获益的公司和自愿程序员共同开发。

Red Hat is the third multi-billion dollar acquisition of an open-source firm this year 继微软以75亿美元收购GitHub，Salesforce以65亿美元收购MuleSoft后，

after MuleSoft, bought by Salesforce for $6.5bn, and GitHub, taken over by Microsoft for $7.5bn. 红帽子成了今年第三个收购价格为数十亿美元的开源软件公司。

Not bad for a type of code whose pioneers saw themselves as rebels fighting "evil" proprietary-software makers. 这种代码的开创者将自己视为和“邪恶”专用软件制造商斗争的反叛者。

Such origins were the inspiration for Red Hat's name, 这种想法的起源是红帽子这个名字的灵感，

as Bob Young, the company's co-founder, once explained: 18th-century revolutionaries in America and France wore red caps during their uprisings. 正如公司联合创始人鲍勃· 扬曾解释的那样：美国和法国18世纪的革命分子在起义时都戴着红帽子。

Now, open-source firms look more like the establishment. 如今，开放源代码公司看起来更像是企业。