Welcome to the silly season, when marketers decide their company's products make great holiday gifts. As <i>InformationWeek</i>'s Master of Disaster, I get e-mail from all sorts of folks who think I should say nice things about their products in this here blog. Sometimes they try just a little too hard to make their products topical.

Howard Marks, Network Computing Blogger

November 30, 2008

1 Min Read

Welcome to the silly season, when marketers decide their company's products make great holiday gifts. As InformationWeek's Master of Disaster, I get e-mail from all sorts of folks who think I should say nice things about their products in this here blog. Sometimes they try just a little too hard to make their products topical.Today I opened an e-mail from emergancylifeline.com claiming to offer "Great Gift Ideas." Turns out it's selling survival kits.

Much as keeping some food, water, and a first aid kit around the house and/or data center might be a good idea in earthquake or hurricane country, a great gift idea it's not.

While I smiled and wrote thank you notes to Aunt Charlotte for the itchy wool socks she knitted for me throughout my childhood, I really wanted an Erector Set.

I just can't see saying "Oh, boy, survival food bars! Just want I want for Hanukkah."

About the Author(s)

Howard Marks

Network Computing Blogger

Howard Marks is founder and chief scientist at Deepstorage LLC, a storage consultancy and independent test lab based in Santa Fe, N.M. and concentrating on storage and data center networking. In more than 25 years of consulting, Marks has designed and implemented storage systems, networks, management systems and Internet strategies at organizations including American Express, J.P. Morgan, Borden Foods, U.S. Tobacco, BBDO Worldwide, Foxwoods Resort Casino and the State University of New York at Purchase. The testing at DeepStorage Labs is informed by that real world experience.

He has been a frequent contributor to Network Computing and InformationWeek since 1999 and a speaker at industry conferences including Comnet, PC Expo, Interop and Microsoft's TechEd since 1990. He is the author of Networking Windows and co-author of Windows NT Unleashed (Sams).

He is co-host, with Ray Lucchesi of the monthly Greybeards on Storage podcast where the voices of experience discuss the latest issues in the storage world with industry leaders.  You can find the podcast at: http://www.deepstorage.net/NEW/GBoS

Never Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.

You May Also Like


More Insights