Looks like the folks at Goldman are not feeling too rosy about Salesforce and Tibco downgrading both to "sell" ratings (via Paul Kedrosky).
Why? For Tibco looks like a a "challenging IT spending environment" and exposure to the financial services sector while valuation is the culprit in Salesforce’s case.
I hope everyone had a great holiday. I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging due to both being stricken with something nasty and flu-like I picked up traveling on a few end of year sales calls the week before Christmas as well as doing my best to be unplugged for a bit.
Apologies for light posting lately. Have been doing a bit of traveling and working to get a few things done before the annual holiday "quiet period."
I’m not one to follow TV programs and haven’t actually been inside a movie theater in longer than I can remember. That said, I endured an episode of CSI:Miami on one of the many channels that runs it in syndication and am convinced, beyond a doubt, that David Caruso is the worst actor….ever. Beyond his fabulous career decision to leave NYPD Blue after it surged in popularity to perform such roles as the tough guy sidekick in "Proof of Life" and building on roles like a sheriff’s deputy in "First Blood", the ridiculous aloof/pouty/talk to you without looking at you/do you feel lucky punk thing is more than I can handle. I actually became indignant during the show at the absolute comedy of the over-dramatization. William Shatner has nothing on this guy. Also, is everyone that works in the crime lab really that hip, sexy, metro-sexual type? Maybe in Miami…
Congratulations to Brian Lamb and his award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. No doubt that CSPAN is an acquired taste…and one that I have. I had the opportunity to see Brian speak at the University of Virginia’s festival of the book in 1997.
Mr. Lamb is on my list of people to spend some time with…and I thank him for what he has been able to build among the noise and chaos of cable television.
Uncle. I have become overwhelmed with the sheer number of RSS feeds I have accumulated over the previous year. Much like many declare email bankruptcy, I am going to extend this a bit and declare RSS bankruptcy. I can’t keep up so I am scaling back. I began to realize that there were just a few that I actually looked forward to reading with the rest getting "mark all as read" treatment. Newspapers and periodicals? Gone. Robert Scoble and other nonsense peddlers? Gone. Here’s my list of must haves:
I have more than this set up in my reader, but these are the ones I look forward to that post pretty regularly.
For those of you that don’t know, I have recently taken a new position here in Seattle. I’m staying in the messaging & collaboration space although headed "down stack" a bit into business-to-business information exchange. I have taken the VP Marketing role at Hubspan and am really excited to be working with a great team in an exciting space. My coverage will continue to include personal messaging but will expand to incorporate items related to supply/demand chains and how companies are using technology for real-time information sharing.
I like this post from Andy Sack (via a mentor of his). Here’s the link but essentially he’s talking about using the anxiety you feel as fuel to drive and motivate you. Good guidance. I had the chance to meet Andy briefly at the first Seattle Open Coffee. I have been unable to make another one due to recurring conflicts but they continue to gather at Louisa’s on Tuesday am.
Light posting the past several days. My apologies but have been slammed. Will be back in the saddle after today.
…or not. If you needed another reason to be disgusted with professional sports, enter Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. A personal fine of $500k, a team fine of $250k, and the loss of first round pick and he hardly seems contrite. Kind of a "yeah, I did it, you caught me, here’s the dough, problem solved" attitude. I always thought things like the coach covering his mouth with the play card was a bit of overkill. Now I know better. Video taping play calls is pretty egregious.
The Patriots have had a heck of a run and it brings into question how they got it. I’m all for fierce competition, but there are ethical lines as well as legal ones. Win based on your brilliance, talent around you, and a bit of luck. Maybe it’s the sweatshirts…
Venture Vice 