Channel Talk (19 March)

• To celebrate being bought by Taiwanese IT giant Acer, Texas Instruments threw a party at a Chinese restaurant in London?s West End, thinking, no doubt that there?s no real difference between China and Taiwan. As a sign of their respect for their new owners, some of the TI top bods in attendance, among them John Klinker and Neil Marshall, began a series of impersonations of the Chinese waiting staff. The shouts of ?Ah so? and ?ching chong? somehow failed to amuse the waiters and the rest of the TI party. The night continued to slide into offensiveness above and beyond the call of duty when they extended their gag to include impersonations of Stan Shih, the Taiwanese chairman of Acer. Good to know you?re off to a harmonious start in your new working relationship, boys.
• Just when everyone thought that the boys from Texas had plumbed enough depths for one evening, they surpassed themselves. Neil Marshall, TI channel marketing manager, had obviously set his sights on going to Stringfellows to enjoy a spot of exotic dancing. So keen was he to get there that he began suggesting that a female member of the party should start an impromptu routine straight away. Channel Talk was quite impressed with the devil-may-care attitude of the TI boys, who were not afraid to show themselves up completely, even in front of a number of IT journalists. Good work, fellas ? consider yourselves the first winners of Channel Talk?s Hands Across the Water award for international public relations. If you know of anyone that you think should be nominated for this award, don?t hesitate to get in touch.
• Who said the channel has no sense of humour? In a valiant attempt to bring the Billy Graham-style evangelism of sales guru Richard Denny and others down to earth at Microsoft?s Inside Track 97 in Birmingham, comedian Lee Hurst asked all the bald delegates to please raise their hands. The head honchos of Microsoft UK were, understandably, less than amused when, after being asked not to use any f, c or w words, Hurst urged his audience to heckle speakers with the w word. But to think from an audience of over 1,000 fully grown adults, not one could take being called a slaphead. Shame on you. Would the folically challenged out there please say it loud: ?I?m bald and I?m proud.?
• The trial of dodgy dealer Curtis Maclean turned up some interesting facts. MacLean, it turns out is the stepson of best-selling author Alastair MacLean. On the day Curtis was found guilty and taken away to Brixton prison to start his two-and-a-half year sentence, the film version of his stepfather?s book Where Eagles Dare (starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood) was shown on TV. MacLean?s defence barrister claimed that his client had suffered emotional turmoil in his formative years, which had contributed to his crooked behaviour in later life.