ShadowRAM: November 24, 2003

Just when you think the humor's been completely sucked out of the biz, Jim Manzi comes back into the picture.

He was his usual wise-guy self at CRN's Hall of Fame shindig, where the former Lotus chairman was honored for sticking with Notes (and, in my opinion, being one of the fun people to cover, along with archnemesis Philippe Kahn. Software CEOs,with the exception of Larry Ellison,just ain't fun to watch anymore.)

It had been quite some time since Manzi had been to Comdex, and he recounted some banner announcements of shows past. Like in the late '80s when IBM and Microsoft tried to convince the world, not very convincingly, that OS/2 would be the operating system for 386 chips and higher while Windows would be the designated OS for slower CPUs.

Said Manzi, nipping the hand that fed him: "The news this year is that IBM is announcing OS/2 for the 286." Or words to that effect. I was somewhat, ahem, hazy at that point.

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Those with similarly depleted brain cells might not recall that it was IBM who launched a hostile, then not-so-hostile bid for Lotus in 1995. Manzi got quite a bit of cash for shareholders outta the boys in Armonk.

Manzi also did a star turn in a movie clip as Michael Corleone from "The Godfather" meeting with Salazzo, aka "the Turk." The audience was in stitches.

Microsoft's Jeff Raikes (who re-enacted the voice-from-the-sky scene from "Field of Dreams") gave kudos to former Microsoft channel chief, the late John Neilson, who was one Microsoft guy almost universally beloved. Hmm. Microsoft and beloved in the same sentence. I'll bet that's never happened before.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, Comdex's Wi-Fi was incredibly lame. The one service available cost $4.95 per minute and was inconsistent. For attendees who pay upward of a hundred bucks for a pass, or exhibitors that cough up tens of thousands, you'd think the Comdex folks might spot us a couple free hot spots.

Las Vegas cabbies estimated the crowd to be 20,000 to 40,000. In the past, people would line up a half-mile for a ride. This year, it was the cabs lining up for fares.

Symantec CEO John Thompson scoffed at CA's antivirus/security giveaway to qualified Windows home users. "We've seen desperate acts by desperate people before," he said. "If you don't have much share of the market, then you'll probably try anything."

This year, the folks who ran the AdultDex adult entertainment show concurrently with Comdex in years past were a no-show. I guess the lovely ladies joined all the stereo, laser pointer and watch people in the exodus to January's Consumer Electronics Show. Not that they will be missed. The stereo, laser pointer and watch vendors, that is. Their departure improved the overall Comdex experience.

Several exhibitors said with all the new business they picked up at Comdex they could have packed up and left the first day.

Not so sure the folks at the Computer Digital Expo (cdXpo) would agree. The would-be anti-Comdex kicked off its inaugural event in Vegas Comdex week in order to syphon off attendees from the bigger show. Yours truly attended two panels Wednesday, which had a grand total of 17 attendees each. Ouch.

CdXpo was similar to AdultDex in two ways: It was held during Comdex and your Comdex badge got you in. A two-fer.

Sun Microsystems has truly hitched its wagon to Advanced Micro Devices, and vice versa, in their fight for survival against Intel. Hoofing it from the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Hilton with Sun and AMD execs for a meeting after Scott McNealy's keynote, a few AMD folks got ahead of the pack. One apologized for walking so fast. "We're AMD. We're used to running for our lives." To which Shouheil Saliba, VP of Sun's volume systems products marketing, responded, "We're running with them now."

Meanwhile, running from Sun is Barbara Gordon, who until a month ago headed Sun's software sales as software executive VP Jonathan Schwartz's right-hand person. She left to run the top 50 accounts for Microsoft. Word is she got fed up because no salespeople reported to her but instead to Sun's larger sales organization, run by Robert Youngjohns. "Sun gave its old boys' club network of salespeople who had been there for 15 years responsibility for North American sales and passed her over," a source said. The move is "bad news" for Sun because Gordon knows the company inside and out from her former role as McNealy's chief of staff,information the source said Microsoft would surely find handy.

For their part, Sun executives act as if Gordon never existed. Sources said when Sun introduced John Halliwell as the person filling her position, they refused to even mention her name as the exec he is replacing.

Could the blogfest that has afflicted the tech world be near an end? Some of these sites are notable. But many take navel-gazing to heretofore-undreamed-of levels.

Seriously, who cares?!?

Mitch Kapor, for one, is putting his blog on hiatus while he concentrates on Chandler, his open-source PIM. The plan? To "focus pointedly on execution in order to deliver on the potential there is so much excitement about."

One can only hope other bloggers will follow suit.

The non-industry buzz all over town was that Michael Jackson was in Vegas even as authorities raided his California ranch in search of evidence of child molestation.

And seen at the craps tables at the MGM Grand: one Mel Stottlemyre, former New York Yankees pitching great and coach. He appeared to be losing.