News Flash I

Week of April 21, 2002

Gateway hopes for profits in 2003
Gateway got hit hard by the economic downturn and the PC price war. But even though they're expecting a $250M loss for 2002, they hope to be back in the black the year after.

Unfortunately it will take more than a concerted effort to increase market share, if consumers have anything to say about it. Gateway computers are today notoriously shoddy, and Gateway's personnel politics are perhaps the worst in the IT world. It won't help that Tom Waitt is now consulting with a cow on corporate strategy.

Dell Denies
Jack Weigand is incensed. Dell recently refused to send him a laptop and he's taking it personally.

The confusion was triggered by a word in the name of Jack's company. Jack is namely proprietor of 'Weigand Combat Handguns', and despite his support for this most American of sports, Dell saw fit to deny, ostensibly out of fear the computer might be used for terrorist activities. Dell has since offered to send the laptop anyway, but Jack, the modicum of homo sapiens evolution and wisdom, has declined, announcing he instead will use his position as president of the American Pistolsmiths Guild to start a boycott of Dell products.

Dell should feel relieved. They avoided doing business with a sicko. And if one cannot survive in business without people like this, one should not be in business at all.

Scott at JavaOne
Sun CEO Scott McNealy was keynote speaker at the recent JavaOne show. He urged developers to unite against Microsoft. 'I want people to be aware of the potential for standards to be hijacked by predatory monopolists.' He also spoke of retiring, but said he refused to leave behind a world run by Microsoft.

'I can't leave my kids to a world of Ctrl-Alt-Delete and MSN.'

Who can?

AV Early Warning
AV vendors NAI and Sophos are planning a new 'early warning system' for their customers - at a price of course. This system will alert computer users when a new outbreak is imminent. As the total cost of ILOVEYOU, AnnaK, SirCam, Nimda et al. is today estimated by these experts at close to ten billion US dollars, they have reason to be watchful.

Note that neither company would go so far as to recommend abandoning Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Outlook. That course of action might be the smart thing to do, but it would also put both companies out of business.