ShadowRAM: December 18, 2006
And for those who can't wait to hear more about Longhorn or (more likely) son of Longhorn, Microsoft will host its somewhat biennial Professional Developers Conference in L.A. Oct. 2"5. It was at the PDC in '05 that Allchin, Don Box, et al talked up the Longhorn pillarsWinFS, Indigo, etc. Those foundations pretty much crumbled and have had to be retrofitted for older versions of Windows.
One wonders whether Microsoft will soft-pedal the hype this time around and concentrate on things it can actually, you know, deliver. Naaaaaaaahhh! This is Microsoft after all.
Scott McNealy showed up on CNBC last Wednesday to tout "Curriki," his attempt to build a "Global Education and Learning Community." The only problem was the related site was down when viewers tried to click in. Note to Scooter: It's hard to be global when you're offline.
It's keep on truckin' time for HP solution providers. Don Richie, CEO of Sequel Data Systems, spent $500,000 on a semi, outfitted it with demo equipment, and took it on the road to drive demand for HP solutions. But that was two years ago, and it's apparently time to trade in and up. Richie sold the semi-truck solution center to Bobby Thomas, VP of Carotek Information Technologies, an HP solution provider in North Carolina. Richie plans to outfit a new truck.
The New York Times has laid down the law: No more quoting tech analysts. Why? Said analysts are usually paid by the companies they cover. Well, duh.
This analyst/vendor/ reporter dance has become too incestuous to sort out. Face it, the line between analysts (who blog) and journalists (who also blog) and even tech execs (who also blog) is getting finer by the day. Analysts typically say only good things about client companies for quotation. Journalists know the good dirt comes in the not-for-attribution conversations.
Two large IT vendorsone with a three-letter namemay drop contracts with analyst firms but are wavering for fear of retribution.
HP's Mark Hurd stayed on message at last week's analyst meeting. After saying he's not done sweating out expenses, he set analysts loose for lunch, but guided expectations: "I wouldn't expect a big, great lunch," he said. Did the meal live down to the warning? We wouldn't know: Reporters were excluded.
Is a battle brewing between Cisco and Apple? Could be, especially if Apple launches its long-rumored iPhone. Cisco owns that trademark.