Who says bromance is dead? The channel's biggest love-ins
To (belatedly) celebrate St Valentine's day, we remember the IT world's sweetest couples
You can't have failed to notice that yesterday was everyone's favourite pocket-lightening annual reminder of how desperately unfulfilling their love lives are. Otherwise known as St Valentine's day.
This industry is a fiercely competitive one, but its leading lights are frequently inclined to indulge in a bit of bromance. Some CEOs just can't resist coyly paying each other compliments. Possibly while flicking their hair and doing that head-tilting big-eyes thing that Princess Diana always did.
To celebrate this most sterilely romantic time of year, we here at ChannelWeb have compiled a rundown of our five favourite IT exec love-ins. Obviously, we meant to post this yesterday, but ended up being far too busy opening piles of cards, poems, billet-doux, chocolates and ludicrously expensive gifts.
We certainly were not too busy watching Sleepless in Seattle for the 48th time and gorging on clotted cream fudge, while quietly weeping into an industrial-sized bottle of cab sauv. And anyone who tells you different is a liar. Anyway, here's the list - enjoy!
5. Chambers and Apotheker
Cisco's relationship with HP may have taken a decidedly frosty turn in the last couple of years, but as recently as a year ago the networking chief's leader was full of praise for his opposite number.
Former SAP head honcho Léo Apotheker (remember him?) took charge of the world's biggest tech-maker in October 2010. At the Cisco partner conference a couple of months afterwards, Cisco CEO John Chambers inevitably faced questions from slightly sensationalist hacks (not including those from ChannelWeb, obviously) concerning his opinion of HP's new leader.
"I like Léo - I think he is a good man and he will do a good job there," said Chambers. "I just wish he wasn't at HP, and I mean that in a good way."
As it turns out, the networking boss didn't have that long to wait for his wish to come true.
Following Apotheker's departure, a host of top names were linked to the job, including David Donatelli, Todd Bradley, Ann Livermore and Harry Redknapp. But the hotseat was eventually handed to former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Chambers is yet to leave feedback.
4. Jobs and Zuckerberg
Steve Jobs was not a man known for saying nice things about many of his competitors, but biographer Walter Isaacson revealed he did have some nice things to say about Facebook's fresh-faced founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Jobs was quoted as saying: "We talk about social networks in the plural, but I don't see anybody other than Facebook out there. Just Facebook. They are dominating this. I admire Mark Zuckerberg... for not selling out, for wanting to make a company. I admire that a lot."
Since Jobs' sad death, however, Zuckerberg is finally preparing to cash in, launching IPO proceedings earlier this month, with the goal of raising about $10bn (£6.3bn). The social network guru is not known for his expensive tastes, but a payday like that could surely buy an awesomely kick-ass avatar or a whole lot of FarmVille credits.
3. Gates and Jobs
Continuing in the Steve Jobs vein: his on-off relationship with Bill Gates was also well documented in the biography, with both men having a secret, yet grudging admiration for each other despite numerous examples of bickering.
There was a general outpouring of love for Jobs when he passed away, with Gates being the first out of the blocks.
"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come," said Gates.
Clearly, in the end, this town was big enough for the both of them, and Gates is not the only one still feeling the loss of one of the grand old men of Silicon Valley.
2. Browett and the UK channel
'Dixons' is sometimes seen as a bit of a dirty word in the channel community, but the outpouring of praise shown for recently departed boss John Browett shows that a pretty deep reservoir of respect runs below the frosty surface.
Browett leaves the high-street staple in April to join Apple, where he will take over US retail operations.
In a blog post for ChannelWeb, Mark Needham, founder of distributor Widget UK, praised Browett's achievements. "The stores which John Browett leaves to his successors are better than the ones he took over," he writes.
Meanwhile, Apple channel consultant Robert Peckham described the vendor's new hire as "a genius, a visionary and a gifted leader". He even went so far as to dub him "the Steve Jobs of Dixons Retail".
Admittedly, we're not sure if this refers to his business acumen or his 500-strong collection of black turtlenecks.
1. Ellison and Hurd
The normally reserved and diplomatic figure of Larry Ellison was Mark Hurd's most voluble supporter after the former HP man left his post following the emergence of sexual harassment allegations in the summer of 2010.
"The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago," said Ellison in an open letter published in the New York Times. "In losing Mark Hurd, the HP board failed to act in the best interest of HP's employees, shareholders, customers and partners."
Within a month, Hurd had been welcomed aboard the good ship Oracle, where he continues to serve as president. Ellison was still in a fulsome mood when he welcomed his new charge.
"Mark did a brilliant job at HP and I expect he will do even better at Oracle," he gushed. "There is no executive in the IT world with more relevant experience than Mark."
Given Ellison's reputation for being a particularly hands-on manager himself, we can only assume that Hurd's "relevant experience" includes [TEXT REDACTED].