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It took more than an hour and about $60 in credits, but Spence finally scored one basket while playing the free-throw game at the ESPN Zone restaurant in Times Square. As the 13-year-olds who had been taunting the Tabby dispersed, El Gato dumped his chili fries into his briefcase and skatted to the Javits Center to check out DCIs CRM Conference & Exposition.
Viewing the paucity of attendees in the hall, the Furball saw it as a reflection of tough times for CRM vendors. Microsoft, which took up nearly half of the already-condensed show floor, must have wondered what it had gotten into. Without the Redmond presence, one could envision the show fitting in a hotel ballroom. And what would any expo be without titillating booth entertainment? It would be one that offered not one but two booths serving up lame card tricks—thanks to Exact and Unico. At this point, Spence half-expected to see the Dalai Lama show up to advise attendees to avoid the temptation of licensed CRM software completely.
Outside of mucho gossip about Salesforce.com infuriating the Free Tibet community with its recent Dalai Lama-inspired ad campaign, rumors were flying that the hosted CRM model has been so successful for Salesforce.com that UpShot, NetLedger and Salesnet are emerging as prime takeover targets for larger vendors. One Tabby tattler predicted that Oracle will absorb NetLedger, which is already planning a name change and counts Larry Ellison among its investors.
That evening, while the gourmet Grimalkin was enjoying hot ribs and cool jazz at the hip Blue Smoke Restaurant, one native New Yorker and part-time stargazer told the Kitty that an e-mail making the rounds containing a satellite photo of the Northeast blackout of Aug. 14 is bogus. That there is no imaging satellite named GeoStar, which the bogus e-mail claims took the pic, is the biggest clue the image is a hoax.
As the Voracious Vicar of Verbiage gnawed on the few remaining bones, another tattler discreetly deposited a napkin on his table with a scribbled note about Vignette buying Artesia in the rapidly consolidating content management space. Vignette needs a digital asset management solution, which most competitors already have. Artesia is the last digital asset management pure play left on the board and counts Vignette among its investors.
During a visit to the mens room, a source whispered over the stall why Siebel Systems CEO Tom Siebel didnt enter the free-for-all for the governorship of California. The pundit purred that Siebel may have been dissuaded by the fact that the recall election will be held Oct. 7, which is the opening day of the companys User Week conference in San Diego. “Or maybe the already-embattled exec didnt want to make a concession speech to Gary Coleman at his own customer conference,” laughed the Lynx.
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