Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Another Acquisition Goes Off; Borland + TogetherSoft = TBD http://www.thedeal.com/NASApp/cs/CS?pagename=ExNews&c=TDDArticle&cid=1035841676656 2 software related deals in one day -- wow! Makes it look like software companies think that the equity markets are stable, if not at the bottom; given that the would be less likely to make a deal if they are uncertain about the value of their currency. Favorite line about the Epicentric merger; "if regulartory approval is cleared." Can you imagine the DOJ stepping-in to block this deal? Though, who would have thought they would have stopped one of Jupiter's sell-offs (can you say firesale?), because it would hurt the Internet advertising market ... right, okay, sure. One more note about Epicentric: this note is ugly: http://www.internalmemos.com/memos/memodetails.php?memo_id=1025 FWIW, I think that Pud is an idiot, but the Memos site sure is juicy. 6:54:50 PM    comment []

Congrats to John Hagel on the release of his new book, Out of the Box. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578516803/looselycouple-20/104-6480682-8720711 Rich Karpinski @ InternetWeek has a good piece on the new book, based on a recent conversation with John:   http://www.internetweek.com/story/INW20021022S0011  John's earlier books (Net.Gain /Worth) had some real visionary concepts and this new effort is no different. Phil Wainewright summarizes it nicely: "If you want to get your head buzzing with ideas about how web services might change the way your company does business in the future — as well as making a strong case for starting to adopt web services today — then this book should definitely be on your reading list. "On the other hand, if reading a whole book doesn't appeal, John's website is a mine of useful articles and papers." http://www.looselycoupled.com/blog/2002_10_27_lc.htm#85618397 6:46:10 PM    comment []

"Footballers" (aka soccer players) certainly do have their own language. Brad Friedel, USA's goalkeeper, commented recently on the English goalkeeper, David Seaman, saying: ":Everyone has gone on a little too long about David Seaman. Speaking as another goalkeeper, he's been one of the best servants in English football." And this is intended as a compliment? Hmm ... interesting crowd. http://www.soccernet.com/england/news/2002/1028/20021028afcfriedelbrfc.html 2:25:17 PM    comment []

And then there was one http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20021029S0008 Vignette picks up Epicentric for $32 million on a supposed revenue run rate of $36; not exactly a premium price, huh? Now, there's only one pure play portal vendor http://www.plumtree.com/ 9:48:12 AM    comment []