From: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 12:19 AM
To: eWEEK readers
Subject: Lotuspheres outer orbit; Oohs and Oz; Oregon snow job
“Even my dongle is frozen,” griped El Gato, who was still digging out from the Blizzard of 2005. “The only thing currently hot in New England is the Patriots, and theyre heading for Jacksonville.” The main reason for the Mousers malaise was that the blizzard also put the kibosh on his catching a flight to Orlando to attend IBMs Lotusphere. “Sisyphus had it easy,” spit out Spence as the KattPhones new ring tone, “Cold, Cold Heart,” gave the Fibrillating Feuilletonist an excuse to stop shoveling for a bit.
The caller was a crony who had made it down to Big Blues Florida festivities and wanted to rub rock salt in the frigid Furballs wounds. After teasing the Tabby about whether he needed sunblock while shoveling, he said the buzz around Lotusphere was that IBM—and not Microsoft, as some had previously speculated—could be in line to buy Groove Networks.
The rumor probably grew legs because Groove CEO Ray Ozzie played such a big role at the show, said the crony. Ozzie was there to mark the 20th birthday of Notes and the 15th birthday of the Notes 1.0 release. He spoke at the opening session—where he was treated like a rock star—and later participated in a panel on Notes future. The Katts crony said any future Notes noodling wont likely include the Ozman. IBM insiders told the crony that Ozzie was back only for the ceremonies. The real news at the Ozfest was that the Workplace rich client and Workplace Designer look to be popular tools with the Domino crowd and IT managers who prefer central control. Bidding his pal a frosty adieu, the Furry One retreated to the Litter Box for a toddy.
As the snowbound snoop sipped his molten beverage, he got a call from a penguin in Portland. It seems a PR agency in Oregon issued an over-the-top media invitation regarding something it labeled “Operation Open Gates.” The invite claimed IBM, Open Source Development Labs and “other industry giants” would hold a joint press conference for a “significant” open-technology announcement. Speculation erupted on the Internet that the announcement might be a rewriting of the Linux kernel to prevent any IP-front legal action by Microsoft. And, since Linus Torvalds works at OSDL, some press hounds speculated that a Linux patent announcement may be brewing. Amusingly, OSDL representatives were unaware that the organization was holding any press conference and had never heard of Operation Open Gates. In the end, the hoopla was about a new Open Technology Business Center, created with $1.2 million from the city of Beaverton, a first-of-its-kind facility dedicated to forming, funding and growing startups in open technology. “We were hit up to contribute financially and asked if our CEO, Stuart Cohen, would attend and make some comments. Nothing more,” an OSDL insider told the Puss penguin pal. “Sounds like the folks in Oregon are better at shoveling it than I am,” laughed the Lynx.