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Intel is getting serious heat from Hollywood over the chip makers decision not to implement certain features in its chips that would allow people to track copyright violations. But El Gato hears that, in a possible attempt to placate movie moguls, the company launched an internal probe for copyright violators.
A Tabby tipster said when the chip makers internal investigation into the use of illegal MP3 files, movies and other software turned up about 10 violators—including high-level folks—the company fired them.
Reportedly, Intel chose not to implement a tracking capability in its products because it feared a Big Brother type of backlash that could send customers rushing to rival AMD.
According to the tattler, after the companys in-house investigation, many people who werent let go were reprimanded for similar violations.
The folks at Siebel may be wishing they had found a more mellow type of user—like Apple presents in its “Switch” ad campaign—for the companys own customer testimonials. The Kitty was very amused when a tipster told him that after analysts from Nucleus Research spoke to 23 of the 66 customers referenced in customer success case studies on Siebels Web site, they found that most of them actually had little good to say about their Siebel CRM software implementations, often directly contradicting the canned quotes in their individual case studies. According to the Tattler, the case studies soon mysteriously disappeared from Siebels site.
Palms new subbrands announcement for its Tungsten and Zire family of products left His Hirsuteness scratching his furry cranium. The fact that the Tungsten line seems aimed at IT professionals and the Zire brand is designed for individual users was easy enough to absorb. It was the saga of how the company had presented the names of the products to focus groups without telling them what the products were, and how the groups responded with positive images like elephants and pizza, that left the Puss perplexed. “Thats a crowd whose Rorschach test results I dont want to hear,” laughed the Lynx.
In his Sept. 9 column, El Gato speculated that financially troubled Peregrine Systems would possibly spin off its Remedy division, a provider of service management software solutions, and that BMC Software was the most likely suitor. Last week, Peregrine announced that it was filing for Chapter 11 and that BMC would acquire all the assets and liabilities of the Remedy unit for $350 million. The deal will provide Peregrine with the needed funding to continue operations.
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