Tricks up his sleeve

I MANAGED TO pull off a surprise party after all. With a little chicanery, we convinced the twins to meet each other at a local favorite restaurant and when they got there, so were all their friends. "You really caught me off guard, Bobby," Amber said. "I never figured you had a trick like that up your sleeve." That and much more, my dear.

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Swirling rumors

I am not the only one with tricks up his sleeve, though. The economy may still be down, but several of my spies buzzing around JavaOne last week overheard some folks talking about potential purchases. Acquisition rumors continue to swirl around CRM app vendor E.piphany. In fact, the gooeyest sticking point in the bidding war is apparently the actual price that one of the big, but as yet unnamed, software houses is willing to pay to compete more forcefully with Siebel.

In the portal market space, another spy reported that Plumtree has gathered its fruits into one basket, and hopes to find a buyer for its portal infrastructure and people power. No word on any takers yet, but I will keep you posted.

Meanwhile, my spy said that Salesforce.com continues to push into the enterprise as it nears a systems integration pact with Wheelhouse.

The new meaning of free

Another spy pointed out that while most versions of Linux come with a small up-front price tag, Mandrake Linux seems to be taking that one step further. The company, on its Web site, requests that before downloading its Linux software, prospective users offer their support by joining the Mandrake Linux Users Club, for a fee ranging from $2,500 to $100,000, depending on which options a particular company elects.

Don't shoot the messenger

One of my spies wants to know more about the mysterious AOL instant messenger that came and went. According to the spy account, on Thursday, Nov. 15 of last year, he was out on special spy training, could only access the Web from a direct connection, and when he went to AOL's site, he was greeted with an entirely new Web site featuring full instant messaging. The thing is, this was available on Friday morning, but sometime between 8-10 am, it disappeared. "I've been waiting patiently for the new site to reappear, but to no avail," the spy said.

AFTER THE SURPRISE party, a bunch of revelers found their way back to my place and everyone was doting on the pooch. It wasn't long before I noticed Amber sulking a bit, no longer the center of attention.

"It's supposed to be my birthday party," she said. I detect a bit of jealousy of Apache within Amber, I believe. I'm a bit green myself, since I missed out on riding the Harley this weekend.