IDG Contributor Network: What IBM's willingness to share source code with China means

About a month ago, several articles appeared in the press covering IBM's willingness to share source code with officials from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. At the time, the preponderance of firms in the U.S. tech industry and some public officials were taking the stance that such sharing could lead only to theft of intellectual property and a disadvantaged U.S. position. In this view, they were not entirely wrong.The political backdrop for this moment was tarred with U