Guy Kewney's Diary
To be honest, I'm feeling just a tad guilty about Vegas. It's a big, important show, and the fact that you probably have to walk about 30 miles on soft, static-generating carpet to cover it (see last week's Kewney's World) shouldn't deter a truly dedicated journalist from the challenge of getting his rear in gear and heading into the desert. But this year, I have a 'genuine excuse' for not going, and I'm here.
The villain of the piece, of course, is the Vampire, Mudbath. He's to be found on the magazine masthead as Manek Dubash, deputy Editor. Mudbath acquired his name online; he was registered as mdubash@something and managed to irritate an Amstrad fan. Said fan instantly mangled his name, and the Mud, as they say, stuck, despite the bath.
He's the villain because he accepted an invite from HP to visit some of their factories on the West Coast of the US, thus making his selection as 'the obvious person to cover Comdex' a shoo-in. Which is fair enough; it is just that he's also the bloke who has to sort out 'Trends' each month. And just at the point where it needs sorting out, he's over in Vegas.
I shall say no more about this, but just make one note in passing: if Mudbath comes in pretending to be weary and exhausted and looking for sympathy for all the hard work he's had to endure in San Francisco and Las Vegas, Mudbath's name will be Mud.
Tuesday
The Bay Networks story breaks. Bay makes modems, Rockwell is suing them for making them