12/12   What is CRM (Customer Relationship Management)? I read it on wiki
        and I still don't get it. What software components are involved,
        what do software engineers work on when they develope CRM? Is CRM
        good for your tech career?
        \_ lead generation to sales contacts to customers

1/15    So I saw In Good Company last night.  Anyone think this is what all
        the Peoplesoft employees are thinking now?
        \_ Dunno, but I saw it too and don't recommend it to anyone who is
           dissatisfied with his job.
        \_ Bye-bye PeopleSoft. Anybody else think that this acquisition is
           going to turn out to be another Great Plains fiasco from a couple
           years ago? Why does everyone want to be in ERP/CRM anyway? CEOs
           of software companies have a continuous hard-on for this industry,
           even though it's probably the most god-awful boring industry in
           all of IT. I guess it's all those multi-million dollar support
           contracts that have them drooling.
           \_ Jeesuz, it took you long enough to come around there.  Of
              *course* it's the money, the interest level of the CEO
              is totally irrelevant, they only care about $$$.
              \_ Jeezus, apparently you're clueless. Do you know about the
                 Great Plains Fiasco? Just because the ERP/CRM space looks
                 profitable doesn't mean it necessarily is. In the future,
                 don't comment on shit you don't know about.
                 \_ I'm not pp, but I have never heard of the Great Plains
                    Fiasco, what it is?
                \_ Why does everyone care about ERP/CRP software? Actually, not
                   everyone but specially the database makers. With the rise
                   of ERP software, Oracle and other databases stopped being
                   the "must have" platform that customers cared most about.
                   With ERP software that gives you a choice of underlying
                   database, for many customers, the database is this thing
                   that's running in the backroom, it could be Oracle
                   or DB2 or MS SQL, they don't really care. It looks the same
                   to them as long as it runs the same apps. That's why
                   Oracle got worried and decided to become an ERP software
                   leader in order to collect whatever cash their customers
                   have remaining after they buy their database and to lock
                   them to the Oracle DB by trying it with their ERP software.
                   You know the rest of the story. I think the Peoplesoft
                   acquisition makes sense. What doesn't make sense to me
                   is how the FTC allowed this merger. With or without
                   Microsoft (which Oracle claimed is also "competing" in
                   this market) what we now have is a tight oligopoly in
                   this market with only two dominant players.

3/6     If you had to choose, Scient vs. Sapient what would your selection
        criteria be?  Has anyone here made that choice already?  If so, what
        was your decision?
        \_ I'd choose Scient because they have the shorter name.  That way, if
           I had to write some kind of paper that justified my decision, it'd
           be less work in the long run.
        \_ I'd kill myself first but not before driving a large truck full of
           something interesting into a federal building.
                \_ shut up nweaver
                        \_ Not nweaver.
        \_ Scient: pure e-business. Sapient: ERP implementation and a lot of
                other crap. -impartial CSUA member
        \_ DataMain.  --dbushong