Gawker: valleywag, salesforce

Salesforce to become an all-Mac shop

Jackson West — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:40:00 EDT

Customer relationship management software shop Salesforce's contract with Dell is about to run out, and the company has decided not to renew it. Instead, the company will be outfitting everyone one of their 4,000 employees with a brand new Macintosh, according to an anonymous tipster cited by Alex Curylo. The tipster explains:

And why, you ask, Security! The resources it takes to defend against all the stuff the baddies throw at a PC, it's just cheaper/easier to pay a few bucks more for a Mac and not have any of those issues.

While that excuse makes some rational sense, I'm thinking there's also some regional chauvinism at work with Salesforce's earlier move to publicly side with Google — in other words, score another point for Team Valley against Team Redmond. (Photo by Andrew)

Salesforce's slick boss spins a Time reporter

Nick Douglas — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:33:10 EDT

"Flowers can sway me," Penelope Trunk writes on her blog. The first-time Time Magazine reporter set up a photo op with Salesforce's volunteer program and an interview with CEO Marc Benioff. The press-battering exec blew off the interview. As Trunk missed her deadline, she took out her rage on Salesforce's publicist. But she soon got a helpful phone message from Benioff giving her "every quote I could need." It worked. Benioff didn't have to sit through any actual questions but got to recite company lines; Trunk got an easy puff piece finished; and after Trunk sent the story in, Benioff sent her a bouquet. What a charmer. If only every journalist were so easily tractable. (Flowers: M Eriksson)

Marc Benioff, when not threatening Valley...

Megan McCarthy — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 19:34:02 EDT

Marc Benioff, when not threatening Valley reporters, bribes them with sweet, sweet chocolate. Caroline McCarthy describes her reaction to receiving the latest Salesforce.com swag package. [Webware]

Big dogs update: Everybody hates Microsoft

Nick Douglas — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 23:36:15 EDT

It's time again to check up on how the big dogs relate to each other. While blogger Om Malik chooses to say it with words, we chose fingerpaints. That was a disaster, so we made this graph.

To recap: Salesforce's CEO is pissing on Microsoft in the press, Apple added Google's CEO to its board, Google and Yahoo both made ad deals with eBay, and Yahoo and Google will never get along. And everyone hates Microsoft.

Except Facebook, but we couldn't figure out what their logo is. (Is it the word Facebook? Is it the guy from the banner?) Also, note that the angry Google shopping cart represents fierceness.

Guess where ConFonz ate things

Nick Douglas — Thu, 25 May 2006 10:00:00 EDT

The ConFonz eats more than the souls of young booth jockeys. Valleywag's conference correspondent turns his gastronomic distress into a game: Guess the conference luncheons!

A: Moscone sandwiches and Aroma Blend coffee from the nice silver. Eaten in space that felt a bit like dining in an empty blimp hanger.

B: Palace Hotel "free itemn onry!" (Sorry, racism doesn't come across well in type). Three items: Kobe beef sliders, three-pieces-of-lettuce-in-a-cardboard-bucket-with-some-parmaisan-cheese-and-a-cup-of-dressing, mint fruit salad, worms in a chinese bucket, and rice crispy treats. The best part here is watching guys in suits eat Snap Crackle and Pop.

C: Harry Denton's Starlight martini followed by ten minutes of vomiting in the lovely bathroom facilities of room 1602, which the cleaning lady has run screaming from only moments before.

Answers after the jump — RSS readers, shield your eyes!

A: Informatica World

B: Salesforce.com's 5 hour sales pitch

C: JP Morgan Technology Conference