ShadowRAM: April 19, 2004

We guess the rule learned from the Super Bowl fiasco is that you can get away with almost anything as long as it's in an ad.

Asked later what he thought of French Linux player Mandrake and whether Novell might make another purchase on the heels of shelling out $250 million for Ximian and SUSE, Stone said: "You sound French. I better be careful." He did add, however, "Well, our checkbook is getting kind of empty."

One of our readers was quite distressed that he was being inundated with viruses after calling Microsoft's support line to solve a problem and dealing with its customer-service staff in India. He traced the viruses back to Microsoft's support servers in,you got it,its India support operation. After repeated calls and e-mails, he got no word from the cheeses in Redmond. But after receiving a call from a reporter, Microsoft said it is "looking into the matter."

Says the reader: "I called [Microsoft] Corporate at my expense, no toll-free number. I explained that I thought they had a customer-service problem. I was then told that they could give me a fax number or postal address for a Ms. L.M Ross, again asking me to spend my money to assist them."

This is not exactly a glowing endorsement of how Microsoft is dealing with its two self-proclaimed priorities: security and customer satisfaction. Our reader simply wants Microsoft to clean up its act,and its servers.

Steve Harper, president of Network Management Group and a member of Ingram Micro's VentureTech Network, has co-written a book titled, "Life's Lessons from Dad." Ingram Micro and Toshiba bought 500 copies and brought them to last week's VentureTech event in Philadephia, where Harper signed copies for attendees.

It was a good year for federal IT spending. More than $115 billion in federal IT contracts were awarded in 2003, according to market research firm Input. The Defense Department's $83 billion-plus in contract awards dwarfed the $32 billion in contracts awarded by federal civilian agencies.

Even Web-based advertising firms can't escape the grip of organized crime. Doubleclick, which made its name during the dot.com days, found itself the victim of an alleged shakedown plot that, according to a grand jury last week, was run by the sons of Joseph Colombo Sr., the late patriarch of the mob family of the same name.