Channel Talk - July 10
When Microsoft moves its operation by the end of next year to a site just outside Reading, it's possible it could find itself in an embarrassing situation. Oracle spent most of last week moving staff to its site at Thames Valley Park. But when the mud becomes a building, Microsoft's address will be 1 Oracle Parkway.
Hewlett Packard dealer Basilica Computing is cursed. Channel Talk knows that it's St Albans office is opposite the Sopwell House hotel, the favourite haunt of many football teams. Cup finalists often stay there, and so did the Holland football team before its match against England in Euro 96. Basilica's staff worked their magic curse and watched England hammer Holland 4 - 1, but the Czech Republic team took no notice and stayed at the hotel before the final. Despite the support of the English and the Czechs, the team lost 2 - 1 to a dull German side. Basilica is to blame.
AST's decision to close its German subsidiary has been attributed to a long-standing plan to reorganise the business in the face of a series of losses. Staff at the company's Middlesex HQ are to take responsibility for running the German outfit, which is being shut down this month.
Channel Talk feels that things are rarely this straightforward. Gareth Southgate, who is in no way to blame for England's defeat by the German football team, despite his dodgy penalty kick, plays for Aston Villa, which is sponsored by AST. Coincidence, or a handy excuse for a spot of retaliation? AST representatives were unable to confirm or deny the rumour that the motivation to axe the German set-up only came about following the second Euro 96 semi-final.
Those concerning themselves with the impending battle between the OEM community and Intel over the chip maker's Klamath card architecture may have spotted a parallel in a recent episode of The X Files. The episode's villain was the soul of a dead murderer, William James Dupre, who inhabited the body of FBI Agent Jack Willis. Naturally, Dupre came to a sticky end in this classic story of the struggle between good and evil. The relevance to Intel's new card? Dupre was born and bred in a town called Klamath Falls, Oregon. Channel Talk can't help but wonder if Intel is a superstitious company.
Andi Robinson, sales director of Data Connectivity and self-confessed boy racer, has been banged to rights by the rozzers. When dropping ACC sales director Tony King off at Manchester airport, his not inconspicuous AMG Mercedes drew the attention of the bobbies, who were particularly interested in the radar on his dashboard.
The hapless Robinson was arrested, cautioned, had his handy camera detector confiscated and faces a u2,000 fine. This is the latest in a string of brushes with John Law, but even this seems unlikely to wean Robinson away from eye-catching motor cars. Hell will freeze over before Andi (with an I) Robinson drives a Robin Reliant.