Toland had coined the term FUDware in a speech to an industry conference several years ago and he used it whenever he could. In this case he was justified. Gigantopithecus Softwares pre-pre-beta technology direction disclosure of its new API had sown Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt—FUD to connoisseurs—among potential customers, technology partners, retailers and VARS. FUDware was the equivalent of a rolling artillery barrage on the computer battlefield. Its purpose wasn’t so much to cause casualties as to pin everyone down while the attackers moved in for the kill. The software being shown in another suite here at the Las Vegas Hilton was packed with nifty features. Better, it was far enough along that it might be the prelude to a real product. Then again, it might not, and that was better yet.
As a result Sasquatch was performing its intended job of paralyzing the market, exciting the trade press, and making buyers hold off committing to a competitor and stretching everyone’s acquisition cycle.
Keith Malinowski slumped down on the couch and grunted. He was wearing his “Save The Sasquatch” sweatshirt over his hand-tailored sport shirt. His champagne was going flat.
“The beauty is we caught Microsoft and IBM/Lotus in mid-FUD cycle,” Angela Page, his marketing VP put in. “It will be at least eight weeks before they can counter with FUDware of their own.”
“But when are we going to release it?” asked Joe Kroeber from the suite’s bar. He was head of software development, and pouring the drinks for everyone was part of his job at these things.
“Second quarter of next year,” Page told him. “It’s in the briefing sheet we use to leak to reporters.”
“No, I mean when are we really going to have it ready?”
Page and Toland looked at Kroeber like he’d farted. Malinowski ignored them.
I should have stayed behind and gone sailing, he thought. Three years ago he would have been bouncing up and down like a miniature poodle at an industry coup like this. Now it was flat as his champagne. Even the knowledge that he’d put the screws to Microsoft, his former employer, just didn’t thrill him. The millions more this would add to his net worth were even less important.
These days Malinowski thought of himself as a cryptozoologist more than a software entrepreneur. Ever since he was a teenager he had been convinced the planet was teeming with undiscovered animals, from Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest and as far south as Arizona to dinosaurs in central Africa to serpents in the seas.
The zoologists of his acquaintance thought he was a nut, but that didn’t bother him in the slightest. Like a tot of people in the computer industry, Keith Malinowski had spent his whole life being the smartest person in the room, and like most of his fellows the experience left him with a rather high opinion of his opinions.
With his newfound wealth Malinowski also had the ability to back his beliefs with more than on-line arguments. In the last two years he had sponsored expeditions to places all around the world, provided computer and technical support for the people who claimed to have seen something or thought they might have gotten something on film or tape.
The ringing phone at his elbow jarred him out of his ruminations and nearly made him spill his flat champagne. Before he could focus, Toland grabbed it like the well-trained subordinate he was. He listened for a second, then put his hand over the mouthpiece and turned to his boss.
“It’s Al Benedict. He wants to talk to you.”
“Who?”
“Al Benedict, the guy who’s handling on-floor PR. He insists on talking to you.”
Malinowski frowned. Jesus, what now? He knew from experience that a call from the show floor usually meant he was going to have to pay out a lot more money. But that didn’t bother him as much as having to fight another fire at the behest of someone he didn’t even know. There was a time when he knew all his employees by face and name. Now he couldn’t even tell which building they worked in. What the hell, he decided, it’s better than sitting here watching champagne go flat. He nodded and reached for the phone.