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With the naming of Lou Gerstner as its new CEO (and the retirement of washbasin Akers on May 7), IBM now has a chance to change twain its own organizational structure and goals and, at the same time, the future soma of the computer manufacture. Nearly every computer publication has polled its readers asking such questions as "Do you think IBM can succeed at changing, Do you think Lou Gerstner is the right man to lead a turnaround at IBM," and "Do you c be?" Reactions to such early pulse taking are mixed. Clearly customers are concerned about IBMs seeming inability to take care their future needs and help them move to new computing platforms. On the other hand, customers are divided between a "we have to buy the farm him some time to assess the problem and formulate a result" point of view (we concur), and the feeling that an outsider like Gerstner cant possibly posit a computer company (see below). Some are convinced that it just doesnt matter, sinc e the day of the mainframe is over and that means IBMs days as the industry leader are over, too. IBM, of course, does not agree. Gerstner has not revealed the specifics of his plans at all, except for a few remarks at the Annual IBM Shareholders Meeting, where he brushed off the astray held notion that IBM would spin off profitable businesses. To him, it appears, reorganization means fewer people, different skills, more distribution of power, but not necessarily the sell deconstruction of IBM that some predicted. On the other hand, some of the things he has already done send clear signals of the big changes to come He is expense a lot of time in the ambit and with the customers. That guarantees he volition hear the story first-hand, rather than filtered through tiers of IBM staffers and middle managers. It is just this lovely of filtering that has led to the dangerous continuation of the status quo when IBM was teetering on the brink of disaster. alone a senior management ba dly out of touch with the field and the customers could have been so unaware of what was really going on. Gerstner doesnt intend to act that mistake. He is making big changes in IBM senior management and umteen more changes are likely to come. Tellingly, these appointments are from outside of IBM (nearly unheard of in days gone by) and each appointment appears in the business mess with tales of just how tough the manager has been before and how good he is in tricky situations.