ShadowRAM: May 3, 2004

One vendor made this offer to reporters on the Networld Interop press list: "If you sign up for a one-on-one briefing with [our executive], you'll collect a thank-you gift from [our company]: an iPod. This is not a raffle, and you are guaranteed an iPod for participating in a private briefing." Said company even shipped a realistic-looking,and probably very-expensive-to-make,iPod mockup with the invite.

I enjoy the occasional vendor graft as much as the next guy, but this was a bit too much. No dice, fellah.

Is SAP angling for a content management acquisition? CEO Henning Kagermann hinted last week that he's fishing.

Overheard on Usenet: When a developer offered Linux Torvalds a patch to fix a performance issue on Intel's IA64 platform, Torvalds responded: "Aargh. Ugly, ugly." He then said that while "the patch makes sense," it could have been written cleaner into the kernel. Nothing like having like having your cooking reviewed by the chef who wrote the original recipe.

Here's an update to the IT industry presidential election sweepstakes: IBM honcho Sam Palmisano appears to be backing President Bush and has contributed the maximum $2,000 to his re-election. Tech Data Chairman and CEO Steve Raymund has also coughed up $2,000 to Bush's 2004 campaign. Meanwhile, Brian Bahram Mahbod, an Oracle vice president, has given $1,000 to the campaign of Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

Citrix Systems' source-code agreement expires with Microsoft this month, and observers are wondering if the two can keep their long-term, bi-coastal romance hot. Publicly, Citrix said last week the two are working on a renewal of their vows that should be completed before the old deal expires.

And why not? Citrix deals generate $250 million annually in terminal service revenue for Microsoft. Still, tension exists as Microsoft continues work on its next-gen BearPaw terminal services technology. But sources close to Citrix say the two companies have struck a deal that serves their mutual interests: Microsoft won't move too aggressively on Bearpaw so long as Citrix keeps MetaFrame away from Linux.

At least we know where Citrix stands on this one. Last week, at a Wall Street briefing, Citrix CTO Bob Kruger affirmed that the company has no current intention to do so. But he made it clear Citrix is ready to move forward,and fast,if the situation changes.