Spencer F. Katt

El Gato was amused to see that July 27 has been designated as System Administrator Appreciation Day. Web site sysadminday.com is taking the Rodney Dangerfield route, claiming administrators get no respect and would like this one day to be acknowledged. The Kitty couldnt help but think that everybody should get their own prefab, Hallmark-style holiday. […]

Spencer sat quietly in New Yorks Jacob Javits Center as PC Expo attendees all around him streamed out of Palm CEO Carl Yankowskis less-than-riveting keynote speech. The audience members who did stay were starting to glaze over until the CEO brought a guest on stage to discuss possible uses for Palm OS in the medical […]

Bill Gates isnt nimble just on the dance floor. El Gato heard that while Chairman Bill spoke at his companys TechEd conference last week in Atlanta, Microsoft officials were securing studio space at CNN, directly across the street. Thats because U.S. Court of Appeals dockets are rolled out Tuesday and Friday mornings. According to Tabby […]

The puss pondered the pundit battle that began brewing last week over Microsofts planned use of smart tags in Windows XP and Internet Explorer. Spencer visualized a marketing scheme that might help Microsoft soft-sell this controversial feature to the general public: a giant media campaign featuring ex-SNL comedian Kevin Nealons “Subliminal Man” character. Nealon could […]

SAS Institute appears to be enjoying life as a private company, hiring employees by the hundreds, while its publicly traded competitors seem to announce layoffs in similar numbers. But the Tabby has heard that the Cary, N.C., business intelligence software vendor may wish it had the assets of a public company. Thats because it came […]

Spencer was saddened to hear that Cliff Hillegass, the founder of the popular CliffsNotes study guides, passed away recently. Cliff began publishing the study guides in 1958 with a CliffsNotes version of “Hamlet.” Since then, college students have been allowed to party their butts off, read the CliffsNotes at the last minute and turn in […]

In another sign of the slowing economy, one that has been even harder for second- and third-tier PC makers than for the top-tier ones, His Hirsuteness has learned that Acer America is putting its Silicon Valley campus up for sale. A spokeswoman for the San Jose stalwart said the company will possibly rent space for […]

Spencer wondered if eWeek would foot the bill if he flew to Prague to check out Czech President Vaclav Havels rage firsthand. Havel is attempting to sue the owner of a porn site named after his wife, Dagmar. The subscription site reportedly offers sexual acts featuring a dead ringer for the Czech Republics First Lady. […]

The sunny, 80-degree weather of the city of lost wages was a nice break for the freezing Frisky One, who bailed the late spring frost of New England last week for N+I. “I love this town, and this town loves me,” meowed the Mouser, as he phoned into the home office from inside the surprisingly […]

Spencer had to laugh when he read that Sun offered to send volunteers to help clean up IBMs “Peace, Love, Linux” graffiti campaign, which adorns the streets of San Francisco. The seemingly ecology-minded gesture from Sun came with its own PR spin, though. “For us, its just one more way in which were helping clean […]

Spencer was worried as his deadline approached. it was starting to look like the highlight of his week had been watching “Joey Heatherton: The E! True Hollywood Story.” The gossipy Grimalkins ears perked up when he heard that the fur was flying at McDonalds Canada. Besides flipping fromage burgers, the company had reportedly done the […]

Spencer felt like Columbo piecing together a mystery as he chatted with a former MarchFirst employee recently. Last fall, as boutique competitors were dealing with the downturn in demand for Web consulting services, MarchFirst was still actively hiring, apparently oblivious to market realities. The Tabby tattler told His Hirsuteness that “HR was still hiring like […]