What will it take to get Tech Net off its apolitical butt? Actually, I'm overstating the case. When it comes to narrow self-interest (filthy lucre, anyone?), count upon these folks to mobilize on behalf of the nation's digit makers.
Tech Net describes itself as "a national political organization that builds bipartisan support for policies that strengthen America's leadership of the New Economy." Sounds impressive until it comes to an issue that's really controversial. Then these self-appointed paladins retreat to safe ground and let someone else carry the flag into battle.
So it is with the organization's missing-in-action status with a looming March 7 vote on a proposal by California State Senator Pete Knight to ban same-sex marriage.
This is all the more surprising considering how Tech Net grew out of a 1997 movement to defeat Prop 211. That Alice in Wonderland proposal would have opened the door to frivolous strike suits and been bad for everyone concerned -- except the slime-ball trial attorneys who would have cleaned up. (Among other delicious items, they would have been able to go after the personal worth of corporate directors.)
Those high-tech executives, who had such a keen interest in shooting down Prop 211, now have another reason to rev up the lobbying machine. Anyone who doesn't believe the vote on the Knight initiative won't affect the lives of thousands of high-tech employees -- ultimately, the same constituency Tech Net purports to represent -- is living in another world.
Yet Tech Net, the one group that could best organize a powerful, targeted message, remains mum. But hey, it's only the biggest political issues of the new year to affect Silicon Valley.
Go figure.
Elsewhere, Larry Lessig, a Harvard prof who has Judge Jackson's ear, is weighing in against a breakup of Microsoft. That's bound to be music to the ears of the Redmondians, who are all but resigned to getting slammed by the Hanging Judge when he publishes his conclusions of law. This all presupposes the failure of Richard Posner's mediation efforts in Chicago. Don't make that assumption -- not just yet.
More from the MS antitrust trial: The most detested man in Microsoft's pantheon of enemies -- outside of antitrust chief Joel Klein, of course -- has to be Jeffrey Blattner. His business card says he is the special counsel for information technology, but the Redmondians believe he's the guy who orchestrates the leaks to journalists whenever the DOJ wants to float a trial balloon.
There's a wacky rumor floating around the CeBIT show that Microsoft is thinking about a Linux version of Office. That would be something along the lines of a 7.8 on the Richter scale. This one is right up there with the legend of Bigfoot. Say what you want about the Redmondians, but they're not living in a fantasy world. Office is the revenue dynamo behind the company's stock valuation. Why would they needlessly gut themselves?
Speaking of Microsoft, the company's about to announce its latest move to catch up to Palm Computing. The PocketPC will soon sport a better user interface along with more functional application software than Microsoft's handheld PC technology. I understand MS needs to scramble, but, with four different products now based on Windows CE, the upshot is going to be further fragmentation for the platform. At the very least it needs to offer an upgrade to people who use current versions of Windows CE devices. Otherwise, a lot of folks just flushed their money down the toilet.
All this may be beside the point if the Symbian consortium makes good on its promise to deliver integrated handheld units with all the promised goodies. Judging from the official unveiling at CeBIT, that day may not be long off.
