James Harding view from the following
Regular readers of this column may know that Sun Microsystems chief executive Scott McNealy is my favourite big cheese in the industry. He has a big cheesy grin, comedy teeth, he isn't arrogant, and, above all, he tells jokes and makes fun of Microsoft.
His latest public appearance was at the launch of Sun's Darwin workstations, where the company put on a flash, multimedia show for its customers, press and analysts. After the carefully rehearsed, over-done videos, lights, music and rallying speeches, McNealy stood on the stage looking even more tired and unkempt than usual, holding a tatty piece of paper.
'It may look like I am not prepared and that's because I'm not,' he said.
'My wife delivered Maverick (their two-year-old son) during the last workstation launch. This time she has gone into labour on the morning of the launch - this morning.'
McNealy was ready to dash to the hospital if the cellular phone in his pocket rang. At that stage, I would have been losing it somewhat. But McNealy was utterly professional, convincing all and sundry about the benefits of the hardware and Sun's strategy. He even asked his development team to let him know when the next workstation launch was so he could fit it in with his family planning. The only clue he was not on form was that it took him over 30 seconds to have a go at the company that sells purple Barney dinosaurs - the US equivalent of the Teletubbies.
Flaw spangled banner
Websites can be very handy and more Americans are using them to plan their travel arrangements. A local newspaper, desperately trying to keep up with the populace's growing love affair with the internet, printed some addresses last week under the heading Great American Journey. The piece was an internet travel planner entitled How to enjoy your country and all it has to offer, full of travel tips for tourists who prefer to stay in their own country. It had online information on air travel, hotels, entertainment and activities for every true red-blooded American.
Unfortunately, it had to print a correction this week - one of its addresses, newyorkshopping.com, is entirely in Japanese.
Mail meets its tall order
There have been some gloomy things said about the future of the mail-order retailer now that computer vendors are switching to direct, internet-based sales. The argument is that simple computer and peripheral purchases offer little value-add these days, so consumers are likely to buy cheaper directly, taking business from mail-order dealers and retailers.
Not so, according to CompUSA - the US retail giant. Its sales were up 22 per cent in its last quarter and the company said investment in even more stores had paid off. You may think that's surprising, but there's more. CompUSA also said its Apple store within a store boosted sales significantly.
Now that's really surprising.
Devisors to the stars
Silicon Valley often shows some of the US' worst traits - the lure of mammon, the insular attitudes, the elitism - and VIP clubs are part of that. Silicon Valley has plenty of them, and events for qualified executives only are commonplace. Life is great for the people that matter.
But what matters is that the people who work for the people that matter, matter more. Let me rephrase that; the assistants to the chief executives do a crucial job in protecting, helping and shielding execs from the things they do not need to deal with, conserving their valuable time.
Those assistants have a secret club, the Silicon Valley Catalysts Association.
They have met for three years to discuss skills, jobs and the problems they face in their jobs. They reckon they cannot take courses very often because the skills they need are not taught and they cannot discuss secrets about the boss with anyone else. Apparently, the most useful source of information they have is each other because, as one assistant says, the chief executives 'are all the same'. That explains a lot.
The geek gallery
A book has recently been published here about Silicon Valley's wizards - geeks, to you and I. It includes all sorts of very clever, very gifted people. Normally, I would say it could be worth paying for a book on these people. The only problem is that it is a book of photographic portraits, including some of the worst ties, knees and haircuts in history. Presumably it will appear in the humour section of book shops.
High-tech wrinklies
There is a gruesome shortage of qualified people in Silicon Valley. Oracle is paying university leavers with no experience over #45,000 to work at its tin can headquarters and people with knowledge are snapped up for a small fortune. It makes me think I'm in the wrong job and you readers are in the wrong country.
The latest revelation is that technology companies are recruiting workers who are over 50 years old. Under a non-profit US programme for low-income people over 50 called Green Thumb, the older generation who are struggling as their trades die off can learn about IT.
Seniornet is the name of a similar organisation that teaches computer skills to older people - so successful, it is now expanding from 125 centres to 150 in the next six months. One 63 year-old student decided he wanted to communicate with his grandchildren and so took some courses. After one grandchild got a highly paid job straight out of university, he decided to do more courses, which led to a job. He recouped his investment within a month and is hoping to retire again, this time in luxury on his 65th birthday.
James Harding is US editor of VNU Newswire, based in San Francisco.
He can be reached at [email protected] or on 00 1 415 306 0879.