Michael Gracie

Proving you can’t win ‘em all.

Jeffrey Citron did some revolutionary things for online trading, but the luck isn’t coming for upending landline phone service and the spin isn’t too hot either:

First, Vonage loses their appeal in the Verizon patent case; the company’s weak response follows.

Then they lose another patent case to Sprint. The response is even weaker…they appeal.

I guess you have to give them credit for trying, although the remaining customers would probably benefit most if they just handed the incumbents the keys and called it a day.

Adobe and BellSouth are each laying off a whole bunch of people, but for different reasons. In the first case, it is about managing new technologies (and keeping it in sync with the old); in the latter it is about not managing old technology (and separating it from the new). Both serve their purpose.
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It seems Verizon has been a bit aggressive with its spam filters. In fact, they are tweaked so tightly that a lot of small businesses and legitimate consumers are finding their email bouncing like beach balls.

So in come the lawyers, and out come the details.
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Karen Schwartz of eWeek was kind enough to set my confusion over the Verizon/MCI deal straight (see Verizon Makes Good Move with MCI Purchase).

I did not know that MCI was so strong in the government contracts arena, but that makes total sense. One, they have a big presence in DC, which means they get plenty of cocktail time with the politicos. Two, they are most well known for massive fraud and executives enriching themselves with shareholders’ money, which understandably makes politicians eager to join forces with them.

Nice.
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