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You never give me your money,” sang Spence when he heard that Apple Computer had recently won its trademark dispute with the Beatles Apple Corps over whether Apples iTunes music store could be classified as a creative music venture. Alas, the Fab Furballs song was cut short when he received a call from a crony who said Sage Software has acquired Intuits MasterBuilder construction management software biz, a move that gives Sage another arrow in its quiver to successfully target SMBs. The crony also noted that Silicon Graphics filed for Chapter 11 last week. The high-end hardware dealer plans to continue operations during the bankruptcy.
Hopping into the KattMobile, the Moptopped Meower cranked up “Here Comes the Sun” as he sped off to dine with—what else—a Sun worshiper. The helpful Heliophile claimed that Scott McNealys departure had been in the work for some time. One indicator could be how prepared Jonathan Schwartz was to replace a departing exec like John Loiacono, Suns former executive vice president of software, with a longtime pal like former Sun exec Rich Green. When the Katt crony asked Green when, exactly, he had been approached about the Sun software job, Green responded with a curt “next question, please.”
Sun CFO Mike Lehman, who recently returned from retirement to reclaim his former post, is an old Schwartz crony, too. Schwartz once reported to Lehman, and the two shared an office. “But now he gets to tell me not to answer any questions and go back to work,” Lehman quipped re–cently. Another rumor that leads one to believe the McNealy exit had been orchestrated for some time is that Peder Ulander, who left Sun in 2004 for embedded Linux specialist MontaVista, may have rejoined Sun as vice president of software marketing only because he had been assured an executive management shift was in the offing, the Solar scanner asserted.
Suddenly, the KattPhones new ring tone, “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number),” brought forth a caller who said actor Tom Cruise has complained to WIPO that the domain TomCruise.com is being held by a fairly prolific cybersquatting company called Alberta Hot Rods. Reportedly, some celebs, including Bruce Springsteen, have found it an impossible mission to win back their domain names from the company.
Refocusing on his dinner companion, the pal mentioned that since Sun has been working with Ubuntu Linux—the company started by Mark Shuttleworth, who, in 2002, paid $20 million to ride aboard the Russian Soyuz TM-34 mission—the pal couldnt resist asking Schwartz if he would ever take a trip into space. “That would be my personal definition of hell. Not only would I not pay $20 million to go into space, I could not be paid $20 million to go into space,” Schwartz told the tattler. “I wonder if theres anyone hed like to launch into space?” laughed the Lynx, remembering that Ol Scott is staying on at Sun as chairman.
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And dont forget me at blog.ziffdavis.com/katt