Webroot Software makes a really popular anti-spyware application called Spy Sweeper. It was the darling of the software world when it took a HUGE series A funding round ($108 MM) back in Feb 2005. Nevermind that the money was more of a buyout than an investment with the vast majority of the moola walking out the doors with the newly rich founders. Nevermind that the valuation the clueless venture capitalists put on the company basically ended any possibility of acquisition by anyone short of Google.

Webroot took what money was left and started chasing big names from the security industry. Nevermind that those big names were not qualified for the jobs they were given. Nevermind that the big names typically had little experience in the consumer market where Webroot had enjoyed its success. The big names came in and they have consistently mis-managed the company.

The real fallout started early in 2006 when they hired Gerhard Eschelbeck from Qualys to be their CTO and head of Engineering. His awful management style and inability to actually understand the Webroot business resulted in David LeBlanc (a well-known security architecture expert that Webroot lured from Microsoft in mid-2005) going back to Redmond. LeBlanc found it so messed up he left the job after less than a year to go back to his old job at Microsoft.

Leblanc was soon followed by Richard Stiennon, Webroot's well-known VP of Threat Research, and it all started falling apart from there. In the September 2006 quarter they had 25 people leave, nearly 10% of the entire company, and almost all in the organizations headed by Eschelbeck. Almost the entire product development team from Engineering to Product Management to Quality Assurance decided to get the hell out.

Was this a wake-up call for the management team? Well, apparently a few of them can tell that the ship is sinking and are getting off while they can. The latest news is SVP of Business Development Seksom Suriyapa (a high-profile hire from McAfee who started at Webroot in September 2005) and VP of Marketing Vinay Goel (hired from Check Point in may 2005) are leaving "to pursue other opportunities."

Why aren't the executives behind the company's personnel disaster (Eschelbeck, COO Mike Irwin and CEO David Moll) being held accountable by the board? Because the company still sells a zillion copies of Spy Sweeper in Best Buy and as long as the company is making money, who cares? The fact that the team that built the successful product is gone doesn't seem to have sunk in yet...

Remember how Yahoo's Q2 earnings plummeted? They said it was slumping advertising from online finance (plus automotive). Remember that Nielsen NetRatings gives Yahoo 54% of all online financial services advertising in the US. That's over half the entire category, folks. Oooooooooooooohhhhhhh!

Yahoo Finance gets, like, a gazillion pageviews (upwards of 1 billion a month, but check the ratings). There's just one problem there right now: The entire New York team that kept the place running—four of the six NY product and BD people—have quit on General Manager Betsy White, three of them in the last nine weeks.

Is Yahoo Finance a hollow shell? Is White catastropically hard to work for? Is the NY-Sunnyvale-Santa Monica triangulation too exhausting? Are the unlimited expense accounts and anorexic women in black dresses at Conde Nast unbearably alluring? Or does Yahoo simply hold no more promise for ambitious onliners?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Meanwhile, maybe Yahoo shouldn't use HotJobs for all its open positions. Anyone can search and sort, so it's easy—really, really, REALLY easy—to find out how many chairs are empty.

Here are the open Yahoo Finance positions as of Sep 28:

• Yahoo Finance - Managing Editor: Used to be Christopher Jones, who went to Conde Nast Portfolio Online.
• Yahoo Finance - Assistant Managing Editor: New position, not yet filled.
• Yahoo Finance - Director of Business Development: Used to be Maria Molland, who followed former GM Nathan Richardson to Dow Jones.
• Yahoo Finance - Senior Business Development Manager: Used to be M. Scott Havens, who went to Conde Nast Portfolio Online.
• Yahoo Finance - Business Development Associate: Used to be Chris Hunter, who went to CNNmoney.com.
• Yahoo Finance - Intern: It's an intern; there have been several over the years.
• Yahoo Finance - Senior Sales Producer: Unclear who this person may be; one sales producer is on maternity leave.
• SPECIAL ADDED BONUS DEPARTURE! The Director of Ad Solutions who ran all the sales producers for Finance and some other verticals — Ari M. Brandt — also left for Conde Nast Portfolio recently.

Tongues wagged when The Testing of Luther Albright, the first novel from MacKenzie (wife-of-Jeff) Bezos, debuted to glowing Amazon reviews and a thumbs-up from Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, who Ms. Bezos toiled for during her '88-'92 stint at Princeton.

Now comes word that Bezos' freshman effort, which was greeted with mixed reviews, has been named one of the year's best novels by the American Book Awards, which similarly honored Morrison's Pulitzer-winning effort Beloved back in '88.

Nice to see you can attend an elite boarding school, go to Princeton, work for a hedge fund, marry a billionaire and still snag an award aimed at recognizing and encouraging multicultural diversity with a tome about middle-aged white male angst...

Some Valleywaggers will be familiar with the recent kerfuffle over MySpace's blocking outbound links from new Flash embeds. Already, makers of flash widgets from around the web 2.0 kumbayah fire are feeling the pain as their favorite warm, loving distribution channel turns capricious link-loveless shrew.

Of note is how little discussion there seems to be on how this could affect the one company who rode to the greatest heights on the MySpace flash embed phenomenon: YouTube. After this move, clicking new YouTube videos embedded in MySpace profiles won't pop open new browser windows with that video's YouTube page. What does this mean? For one, YouTube has now been co-opted as MySpace's offsite video host. Sure, they were that before this move, but at least they got traffic back to their site in exchange. Now, that former viral oomph seems more like a whimper.

MySpace claims that this new move is a security precaution, and you can see their point. Flash pop-ups can send an unwary user to any number of unsavory sites full of malware and bad taste. Of course, if Rupe Murdoch's true goal was "user safety with minimum collateral damage," MySpace would have a launched a "verified embed developer" program concurrently to allow trustworthy developers outbound links in their flash embeds. But if you're holding your breath for that one, I've got a new RSS-Ajax-Tagcloud-Attention Market startup I'd like to pitch you on. And a bridge to sell you.

The sad thing for YouTube is that whereas the last time MySpace made a move to hobble YouTube embeds, user outrage over not being able to see their friends hitting the beer bong made MySpace back down. This time, there would appear to be no such user outrage in the offing. As far as the average MySpaceCadet is concerned, they'd just as soon continue writing their comment about how kewl that vid was rotflmao l8r! right there on MySpace, rather than be redirected off the site as eyeballs for YouTube's advertisers. So don't expect the same brouhaha as last time. There's no user pain to stir it up.

In the plus column for YouTube, the last time MySpace tweaked them like this, the Toob was still a relative unknown. Eight months on, YouTube is a destination unto itself (unless Alexa's stats are wrong), and MySpace doesn't provide nearly as much traffic, proportionally, as back then.

Still, this sort of sub-network neutrality issue will surely become a bigger issue over the coming months, and just adds another bullet to the growing list of thorns in YouTube's side.

Ok, I left a comment on [Netscape head] Jason Calacanis blog a while back that I had an idea to get people to pay me to post their links to Netscape for a fee. On his blog I stated that I felt that it is was unethical to get to do this. I also sent [blogger-about-blogs] Duncan Riley and e-mail telling him about this business venture. He never responded about it, and thats good, Duncan is a good guy, and I really could not bring myself to actually start this little venture. Here is the reason I felt that it was unethical to do a business like that. Digg is corrupt and everyone knows it, now if I were to start charging people to put links on Netscape, I would be corrupting the system in much the same way. these social bookmarking sites are supposed to be a democracy, and digg just does not get that. My handle on Netscape is shane_coffey2, and I am one of the top contributors right now as we speak.

Having said that I don't believe getting a thousand dollars from Netscape themselves is unethical, because it is still me finding the links to stories placed on Netscape. To me it is not getting paid to put links on Netscape that they want to see, it is more about paying me for the time that I put into making a site good. To make it clear Netscape has not offered me any money at all and its not likely they will.

Which brings me to why I e-mailed you guys. I received a letter from dingo media, which is at the bottom of this e-mail. The more I read their offer the more it seemed fishy to me. It sounded like a pitch for viagra, or some fantasy trip that no one wants. So I did e-mail them back to get more info, like what website they are from. This what their reply to me was:

Good question—re-reading my original message, it sounds like I'm pushing porn or viagra websites.

In order to give you more details, I'd need you to sign an NDA.

So I then replied back to them there is no way for me to do this, it just does not smell right to me.

Shane Coffey

————— Forwarded message —————
From: dingomed

Ahh, summer in the bay area. Silicon Valley hosts a migration of college students returning back for break or a fresh flock enters for internships. Where is their favorite weekend spot? Palo Alto's Blue Chalk Café.

We're NOT talking about the mid-week crowd that schmoozefests like STIRR/Under the Radar/SVASE/WVAC wrangle up. We ARE talking about WEEKEND people like 'Melissa' from University of Michigan class of 2004. True story, when I was there two Fridays ago collecting "mall flavored" feedback she came up and mistook me for "Brian," a 2004 MIT grad. Either Blue Chalk is very dark or I have an Irish twin running around (if Irish twins can be staggered by 7 years and Asian).

• The feel: There's a decidedly middle-state feel to the bar. On Fridays they clear the tables and a DJ spins by the fireplace.
• The crowd: The crowd ranges from SV-weathered to fresh-in-from-Michigan. If you're shopping for an au pair, there are packs fresh from Europe.
• The crew: The bar tending staff is great but maybe it's cuz the crowd there tends to be generous.
• What kind of talk goes down? Question #2 out of the chute is the dreaded "Where do you work." It's not gold digging as much as it is a genuine curiosity about Valley opportunities.
• Don't get stuck with: Crazy Indian guy dancer. He wears a parka even when it's 70. He grinds everyone and has the ability to clear entire sections of a packed dance floor. The bad news gets worse as his alcohol intake rises. The sliver of good news is that he rampages without a crew.
• Act like a regular: Get there early and order the 16 oz Rib-eye RARE. Get a table upstairs so y'all can take in a ballgame on the flatscreens and watch the crowd swell downstairs over dessert.

The crowd on Friday nights is decidedly sub-26, so go shop Abercrombie and wear your flops to fit right in. I like going as my alias, "Larry" from "The Dating Report" dot com. Going with my alias' expert skills in computing a FICO-like score for dating gets me past question #2 and can even land an introduction to her friends. If you go, dream up your own alias, because the crystal-ball-wielding dating site CEO persona is taken.

Our first review comes from reader Larry, who profiles the Nordstrom coffee corner in Palo Alto.

• Why do you hang out there? Web 2.0 posers hang at Starbucks — true thought leaders hang in the outdoor patio at Nordstrom's.
• What underrated people hang out there? The mall girl that works in Junior's does trig homework, but you can quiz her on cell family plans, new social sites and more.
• Who's the owner and staff? Carlos works every day and he'll take care of you.
• What kind of talk goes down? You hang out here to remind yourself that most people buy stuff that they touch, feel and try on.
• What do you order to show you're In The Know? Mocha Banana with cookie. If the caffeine doesn't keep you going, the 2500 calories will.

What's your favorite office-away-from-the-office? Send a critique — and a phonecam pic — to tips@valleywag.com.

Sometimes I am amazed how they manage to even function, let alone exist, a case study on the failure of Capitalism.

One Fine Mess Part #31,761: So then a new delay?

Early Testers Hit Vista Beta 2 Snags
Microsoft Watch
EWeek

The first testers managing to download Windows Vista 2 bits are reporting in. They say it's not all smooth sailing, and are encountering everything from driver and app compatibility problems to red-hot laptops.

Parts #31,762-31,774 after the jump.

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One Fine Mess Part #31,762: Oh...

Ballmer Says Microsoft Pushing Back Vista—Again
Forbes

During a news conference in Tokyo, Ballmer said the company's highly anticipated update to its Windows operating system might get moved back another "few weeks," according to a report from IDG News Service.

Another delay of a few weeks wouldn't mean so much to Microsoft, but it would be yet another indication of the unwieldy nature of its software. The revamped operating system was originally expected in 2001. [2003, actually — Ed.]

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One Fine Mess Part #31,763: So then run Vista in SAFE MODE too?
Techtree

After being hit by a new Trojan horse, Microsoft has now advised its users to run its Word application in "Safe Mode".

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One Fine Mess Part #31,764: Microsoft Standard Operating Procedure
Oblivious No More [Computer World]

Over a period of several weeks, Frantz was subjected to what we now know to be a standard operating procedure on the part of Microsoft Software Asset Management "engagement managers" — key sales players on certain account teams. These managers will contact a company out of the blue with a claim that Microsoft has reason to believe the company's software isn't properly licensed. Stressing the risks associated with noncooperation, they insist on sending a consultant to do an audit, thereby greasing the skids for a lucrative Software Asset Management contract. Very bad form, you might say.

Now that the tactic has been exposed, it's Microsoft that suddenly finds itself on the defensive. But the company had reason to question the prudence of its strategy even before my column appeared.

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One Fine Mess Part #31,765: Nor will most users...
Most Monitors Won't Play New HD Video [PC World]

Vista's content protection will block or blur high-def movies on today's displays.

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One Fine Mess Part #31,766: Beta Testing Fun. Happy happy joy joy.
Longhorn Blogs
Geoff Coupe's blog

Office 2007: Why Testers Should Have Gotten Beta 2 First

Sometimes I hate Microsoft. [...] So this time around, they deployed an alternate solution to downloading Office 2007 Beta 2. It's called SmartSource [...]

SmartSource is built on .NET 1.1, which is totally stupid in and of itself, because Office 2007 relies on .NET 2.0, and Vista has it preinstalled. It's further stupid because the default .NET 1.1 runtime does not install on Vista [...]

But the lack of foresight goes one step further [...]

So, when you're registering for the Beta 2 downloads (And you're running any Vista build), don't click the "Continue" button once you get your product keys. Instead, click on the name of the app, which is also a hyperlink, and download it that way.

If Microsoft had kept us in the loop and released it to their trusted testers before general availability, we could have worked with them to make sure that this didn't happen. But at the end of the day, why Microsoft didn't test the experience themselves on Vista builds is beyond me.

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One Fine Mess Part #31,767: I am guessing a stock buyback acquisition is not on the docket? But
Web 2.0 loonies, get ready, Microsoft's got a checkbook...
Microsoft to Extend $750 Mln Acquisition Spree, Ballmer Says [Bloomberg]

Microsoft Corp., which bought 22 companies for about $750 million in the past year, is planning more, Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said.

"Our pace of acquisitions continues to rise," Ballmer said during a press conference in Seoul. "You ought to expect us to continue to do more acquisitions, but still primarily, small-and mid-sized companies."

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One Fine Mess Part #31,768: PrePay Puters.

You just KNOW this will fail BIGTIME. And nice insult to the ENTIRE COUNTRY OF BRAZIL. Having lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil is quite modern compared to, say, 90% of Africa. It's not a tech paradise no, but it's not Death Valley either.

All Headline News

Microsoft will test prepaid computers in Brazil to see if selling a big ticket item under a flexible financing plan would be successful.

Fiebig says, "If you can make it work there, then you can make it work elsewhere." Microsoft is offering 1,000 PCs for sale in Brazil this week for $600.

Customers will pay $200 to $250, and the local branch of HSBC Holdings Plc will pay the rest. Instead of monthly payments, consumers will buy cards that activate their computers until the balance is paid off.

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One Fine Mess Part #31,769: Are they NUTS?

Still knocking on that door. Are they NUTS? Still knocking on that door. I played the Tablet game (for FOUR YEARS), until my sanity returned.

Microsoft lays plans for 'Vistagami' tablets

The new minitablets are likely to resemble the first of the ultramobile PCs, though they will run Windows Vista, rather than XP. Hopefully, they will come with a lower price tag than the first devices, such as Samsung's Q1, which starts at $1,100. The software maker generated huge publicity with a "teaser" campaign that touted the Origami idea without revealing many details of the proposal for Windows-based minitablet PCs. However, as the plans became clear, analysts said the hype had moved ahead of reality.

"We were (disappointed)," said Mika Krammer, a director in Microsoft's Windows product marketing unit. "We would have liked to have seen a lower price point."

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One Fine Mess Part #31,770: They can aggressively market it, sure...but so...
Microsoft to aggressively market search, executive says [MarketWatch]

Microsoft Corp. will aggressively market its online search and advertising services in the year ahead, Senior Vice President Yusuf Medhi said.

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One Fine Mess Part #31,771: Don't forget about this.

"Microsoft violated that agreement" — gee, there's a phrase I haven't ever heard.

Symantec-Microsoft Suit Casts Pall on Vista [Internet News]

Directions on Microsoft analyst Michael Cherry said the suit is Symantec's way of stepping up to protect its interest, not an attack against a rising rival in the security software space.

"I don't believe this has anything to do with security software. This totally relates to an agreement the two companies had over some technology," said Cherry. "Symantec's assertion is that Microsoft violated that agreement."

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One Fine Mess Part #31,772: Microsoft maintains stance against ODF
PC Advisor

Despite the recent approval of the ODF (Open Document Format) for Office Applications by the ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation), Microsoft remains stalwart in its decision to forego support of ODF in its Office productivity suite, a company executive said this week.

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One Fine Mess Part #31,773: .png me

Now about that .png support in IE. This is a death knell. Why? Two words: Licensing Options.

Microsoft plans to take on JPEG with its own Windows Media Photo format [Ars Technica]

Microsoft is planning to take on a file format that I can safely say most of us use every day: JPEG. The company hopes that its new image format, Windows Media Photo, will catch on with the masses and someday replace the JPEG image format. It is being developed by the same team that created the Windows Media Video (WMV) and Windows Media Audio (WMA) formats.

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One Fine Mess Part #31,774: So then the first was a beta test? And about that flaky service...
SPOT 2 - New SPOT Watches Available... For Some Reason [Windows IT Pro]

Well, SPOT 2.0 is on the way, and watches based on the new version will sport "more ergonomic" designs, color screens, and other features. Note to Microsoft: If these things aren't demonstrably smaller, you need to just give it up. I think the market has already absorbed as many enormous watches as it can handle.

Stick a fork in him, he's done.