FRAMINGHAM (01/28/2000) - SO THE CIO at a start-up meets the new CEO. Who offhandedly says he's moving headquarters 2,000 miles. And probably closing the existing office. CIO: "OK, I'll freeze hiring." CEO: "Why?" CIO: "I don't want to bring friends into this environment." CEO: "Why?" CIO: "Because you're moving the company and we might be out of a job in 60 days." Pause. CEO: "So hire nonfriends."
BECAUSE SOMETHING is happening here/But you don't know what it is/Do you, Mister Jones? Sharky Dylan hears that research outfit International Data Corp. will shortly release a study. Finding: Linux server licenses are flat-out exploding. Try 24.8% market share among Intel servers. Blood on the tracks in NT land?
IT HEADHUNTERS spin some odious (and odoriferous) yarns. "I had a software engineer show up in my office with his 3-year-old, who had a case of diarrhea and a leaky diaper," a pilot fish says. Shudder. "He eventually worked on assignments at two of our customers. Got rave reviews." (The engineer, not the 3-year-old.)WE HAVE A WINNAH in the Y2K Layoff Derby. "I have a friend who worked in the IS department for [a local government]," a pilot fish writes. "Last spring, she came in on the weekend and installed her Y2K fixes. They must have been confident in her abilities, because they laid her off the next Friday." Spring '99! Can anybody top that?
YOU CAN'T BLAME Sergey Kaplin, a Y2K type in the Russian Army, for getting cranky. "I'm sure we are all painfully aware of how bad things were supposed to go in the Russian Federation," Kaplin bristled at a recent pow-wow. "None of the negative forecasts came close." Nobody's happier than Kaplin, who spent the rollover at the Colorado Springs Center for Y2K Strategic Stability. His job:
Make sure Russia didn't lob ICBMs at the U.S. Another happy Y2K customer.
Speaking of lobbing bombs, Sharky's taking St. Louis and giving the seven.
Hero? Chump? By the time you read this, you'll know. Make me a winner: sharky@computerworld.com. For the daily scoop: computerworld.com/sharky.
Published dirt gets a nifty shirt.