You hit the nail on the head. There is some kind of free policy but the overall one is called "blue dollars." This just means what they charge internally for stuff and has less value than the "green dollars." I found this illustration from 2003:
I doubt they'll give up $780+ million any time soon. However, my proposal in another comment to at least temporarily bill software at cost or for free might benefit them considerably in both green and blue dollars.
All really strange to a guy like me whose companies only dealt with green money and just used cost for internal expenses. :)
http://www.petrovgroup.com/examples/IBM%202003%20HW%20Struct...
I doubt they'll give up $780+ million any time soon. However, my proposal in another comment to at least temporarily bill software at cost or for free might benefit them considerably in both green and blue dollars.
All really strange to a guy like me whose companies only dealt with green money and just used cost for internal expenses. :)