Channel Talk (16 April)

• Compaq called a meeting of IT journalists last week to show off its new notebook and talk about its revamped DOA policy. A Compaq notebook PC was used to run the Powerpoint demonstration, as you would expect. And how fitting that the notebook used to let everyone know about Compaq?s new approach to faulty product would decide that it didn?t want to play ball. Embarrassed looks were the order of the day as Compaq UK services director Paul Gardner had to run through his presentation without back up. Luckily for the good people of Compaq they can now send the notebook in question back to their local dealer and get a refund.
• As election fever grips the nation, Channel Talk was pleased to discover a wealth of political information available on the Web. For the more serious minded channel player, a visit to the BBC?s election Web site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/election97 will provide all the latest news and views. Anyone looking for something a little more irreverent, may want to check out http://www.zdnet.com/clifeuk/cgi-bin/manifesto.cgi to see what the good folks at Ziff-Davis have got to say about the election. Here you will find the manifestos of the Back Breaking Beggars Party, the Fun-loving Radio One DJs Party and the Wobbly Frogs Party. So, something there for everyone.
• Life has changed for a certain person at Microsoft. Kisses are being blown after him wherever he goes around the Winnersh corridors of power (well, nearly). So why has he suddenly become irresistible to his male colleagues? Apparently, Mr Nick McGrath has become the victim of a wind-up since it was revealed he had bought a pink car. So at a lunch with Mr NT himself, Channel Talk popped the question. But the facts were all wrong ? McGrath hasn?t got a pink car at all. ?No,? he said, ?it?s twilight violet?. We stand corrected.
• Who would have thought that the home market would catch on so much that BBC soap Eastenders would feature an episode about Nigel Bates buying a PC for his daughter, Clare. But even a humble story line can get companies into trouble. When Nigel walked in with his PC, the eager viewer could see a box but not the logo, so the poor company that had donated the box was none too happy. Nick Budden, marketing manager of Armari ? which supplied the PC ? said: ?We are peeved because we had paid TV prop firm Propo Portfolio #1,500 to look after our interests. It guaranteed our machine?s exposure on Eastenders, but the next thing we see is a Mesh box and an obscured PC logo.? A fight has now broken out over which PC will have pride of place in Clare?s bedroom.
• Many dealers think that distributors do the work of the devil by playing around with vendor?s marketing money and products. In The Sunday Times rich list, managing director of Northamber, David Phillips, was valued at #26 million and earned himself the ranking of 666.