“Yes, we have no banias,” sang the melody-challenged Mouser as he noted Intel’s announcement officially naming its upcoming mobile processor Centrino. But while Spencer welcomed the name change, he took issue with the logo. “It looks like someone pulled the wings off the MSN Butterfly,” cackled the Kitty.
Speaking of MSN and torture, El Gato can only imagine what fate Redmond has in store for the poor sap who ends up taking the rap for the 6-hour outage Microsoft’s Instant Messenger customers experienced last week. The company’s official line is that a router installation inadvertently caused the service to go down.
Microsoft CRM, which was supposed to ship by the end of last year, will likely be delayed until late March, according to a friend of the Furball. Microsoft will say only “first quarter.”
“The whips will be out to at least get a couple in a box so Microsoft can say that it did indeed ship in February,'” said the Microsoft-jaded tattler. “But it may be spring before true general availability happens.”
Some Oracle employees recently got supersize headaches, courtesy of the McDonald’s restaurant chain. Citing its recent stock drop, the failing fast-food franchise has backed out of a multimillion-dollar ERP project with Oracle, dubbed Innovate. The hasty retreat may force Oracle to serve pink slips to its team members who were working on the project.
Last month, it seems an outfit called Triax Holdings acquired 36.7 million shares of Key3Media Group common stock from Softbank America for an aggregate price of $2. This gives the mysterious Triax, a Bahamas-registered company, 53.55 percent of K3M’s common stock and a controlling stake in the once-mighty trade show organizer. The control shift has placed K3M, already drowning in debt, in default with its lenders.
El Gato hears several of K3M’s creditors have contacted the Massachusetts attorney general alleging fraud. If K3M had been sold off due to a Chapter 7 filing, they felt it would have had more value than $3.75, which is what the total value would be if you can buy 54 percent for $2. Whatever K3M Chairman Fred Rosen has up his sleeve, odds are his creditors won’t be too happy about it.
The art of cyber-begging may have reached new peaksï¾—the seemingly normal gal who runs www.giveboobs.com is seeking donations for her breast augmentation. “Maybe Triax Holdings has $2 more to spare,” laughed the Lynx.
By Spencer F. Katt, E-Week
