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From the Home Office... (2/16/98)
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The rumors of Sun's imminent buyout of Netscape continue to spread unabated, despite a certain CEO's recent foray into stand-up comedy. According to a CNET article, Scott "Just Call Me Letterman" McNealy had a top-ten list of his own, which he unveiled at a Churchill Club dinner a few days ago. In it, he takes "pot" shots at everyone from Microsoft to Compaq to Adobe to, uh, Microsoft. It's worth taking a look at if you're in the mood for a chuckle.
In his routine, McNealy jokingly attributed the rumors surrounding Sun and the troubled Netscape to "second-hand marijuana smoke," borrowing a page from the Olympic snowboarder who was disqualified last week following drug tests. Also on McNealy's List of the Drug-Induced: two-digit date fields, Compaq's buyout of Digital, and any number of Microsoft products, such as Windows 95 and the now-legendary Microsoft Bob, which Microsoft has tried desperately to suppress any and all trace of, in a revisionist attempt to regain its credibility. (If you search the Microsoft web site, for instance, you won't find a single reference to the product, even in the service areas.)
Not that any of this actually addresses the rumors of the Netscape buyout. When asked about it point-blank, McNealy simply said that he "couldn't comment on rumors, no matter how accurate or silly they may be." Not exactly a ringing denial, is it? But truth be told, after all the rumors of a Sun buyout of Apple, we're a little tired of Sun buyout rumors. Who wants to help us start a new rumor, with a more interesting player? How about we convince people that Netscape is about to be bought out by Ben & Jerry's? We could say that the takeover will be marked with the release of a new flavor: Navigator Nougat. Ehh, just a thought. Don't mind us, it's all this darn second-hand marijuana smoke...
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SceneLink (457)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 2/16/98 episode: February 16, 1998: One of the shadowy figures eyeing the CEO spot is caught for a fleeting second in a searchlight beam, and revealed to be a certain VP at IBM; could he be scheming to send Steve packing? Meanwhile, Scott McNealy doesn't quit his day job but jokes about the Netscape takeover rumors anyway, and yet another Pentium bug rears its ugly head...
Other scenes from that episode: 456: I Stay, He Goes (2/16/98) Just days after Apple officially stated that there was "no news to report" on the CEO search (despite a Heidrick & Struggles exec saying that an appointment was likely within 30-45 days), Mac OS Rumors comes through with the rumor that heading up Apple's short list is James A... 458: "Undocumented Feature" (2/16/98) Another day, another Pentium flaw. But this one's a little different-- it doesn't just affect the Pentium, but every x86-based chip in existence. A Newsbytes article reports that a company called "Intelligent Firmware" has uncovered a serious performance bug that could slow down an x86-based chip by as much as 70%...
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