If Bud Selig hadn't read Game of Shadows, would we even have had today's Mitchell Report?
The 2006 book, by San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, detailed the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs by home-run record holder Barry Bonds, and was seen as instrumental in prompting congressional hearings into baseball's attitude toward steroids, both among players and administrators.
If Baseball Commissioner Selig and players union boss Donald Fehr had been more proactive a decade ago in investigating and dealing with what was fundamentally a health issue rather than a performance issue, would we be listening to the list of implicated players read by the former Senator, like an announcer's roll-call of All-Stars on opening day?
Then again, if Al Gore had won the 2000 presidential election, maybe George W. Bush would have become baseball commissioner after all, and this particular cup would have passed from Selig's hands.
That's a lot of "ifs." What we know for certain today, though, is that, as former Sen. George Mitchell's report says, this wasn't just an "isolated problem involving just a few players or a few clubs."
Confirming exactly how widespread a problem the game now faces, Mitchell said that "each of the 30 clubs has had players who have been involved with such substances at some time in their career."
Mitchell went on: "Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades--commissioners, club officials, the players' association and players--shares to some extent the responsibility for the steroids era. There was a collective failure to recognize the problem as it emerged and to deal with it early on."
Often times, the hardest thing and the right thing are the same thing. It may never be harder than to lead professional baseball in a time of such upheaval. That will be Bud Selig's legacy.
Allan H. "Bud" Selig, the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, was elected the ninth commissioner of baseball in July 1998 on a unanimous vote by the 30 major league owners. He has said he will step down in 2009, when his contract expires. He'll be 75.
Regardless of what he "should" or "could" have done, what can he do now? What effective, practical measures can the commissioner put in place in what remains of his time in office?
Even the people who agree with this investigation say a better leader would've acted sooner. Selig still maintains he is glad he acted when he did.
"When I decided to do this [ask Sen Mitchell to investigate] one fateful day in Scottsdale, Ariz., no one was happy with my decision," Selig said from the podium. "I was happy with that decision, and I'm still happy with it today."
Active and retired players were named in the report. Among them, Roger Clemens, undoubtedly a future Hall of Fame candidate. But, at least from Selig's perspective, he won't be around to have to decide on either Clemens' or Bonds' passage to Cooperstown.
Selig said he would move "swiftly" in disciplining the players identified, although Mitchell warned against having the game bogged down in lengthy proceedings. The commissioner also said he would judge on a "case-by-case" basis, a comment the players' union likely didn't digest well. He also said he would "embrace" Mitchell's wide-ranging recommendations for further action.
Today's vocabulary was all about "lessons learned" and directing efforts toward "the future." Mitchell even asked the public to give the game "a fresh start."
Said Selig, "The important thing here is that we're moving forward today."
Suffice to say, Selig may leave his post with few friends among players, and at best a mixed image to those involved in--and who follow--baseball. But perhaps a "better late than never" approach to the steroid issue could still work in Selig's favor.
Don Hinchey, vice president of communications for the Bonham Group, a sports marketing firm, believes overall Selig has generally done his job well, not just in handling the performance-enhancing drugs predicament.
"As for [his] legacy, it should be judged on many different issues--labor peace, league expansion, revenue enhancement, inter-league play, the embrace of the new media, etc.," Hinchey said.
"In all of these areas, he inherited an imperfect system," Hinchey continued. "Overall, he's performed remarkably well in implementing and presiding over significant improvements. He has a similar opportunity in regard to drug testing and enforcement in Major League Baseball, provided he's able to win the support of the players and their union in establishing the level playing field he envisions. If he can do that, his legacy will not only be intact, it will be enhanced."
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Microsoft Declares War On VMWare
With no great excess of modesty Microsoft gave a self-styled “holiday surprise” as it announced it begun public trials of new virtualization software called Hyper-V, to be featured on some versions of Windows Server 2008.
Microsoft Corp. (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) previously said the first public release of the test version of Hyper-V would come out in the first quarter of next year.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company’s announcement gave its shares a 2.2%, or 76 cent, lift in late-afternoon trading on Thursday to $35.23.
"Virtualization" software lets a single computer function like multiple machines, allowing companies to spend less on equipment and energy in its data centers.
Microsoft's virtualization software will compete head-on with programs from VMware (nasdaq: VMW - news - people ) whose own shares were down 3.7%, or $3.68, to $95.55, in response to the news.
Numerous analysts had warned that encroaching competition from companies such as Microsoft would rain on VMware’s parade (See "Storm Clouds Ahead For VMware").
Canaccord Adams analyst Mark Kelleher said that the risk for VMware is that Microsoft decides to add virtualization as a feature for free in its products.
“There’s a lot of competition coming into the market right now and I think some of that competition put a little more reality around VMware,” Kelleher said three weeks ago.
When the 2007 fiscal year does finally come to a blessed close, one of the highlights should be VMware and its spectacularly successful initial public offering in August (See "Investors Can't Get Enough Of VMware").
When it first had its IPO, VMware had near-exclusive claim on the idea of virtualization, but once its competitors caught on, investors realized the firm was going to be just one player in the larger virtualization market. Now virtualization software is being duplicated for free by Xen hypervisor and being added as a feature of products sold by Citrix Systems (nasdaq: CTXS - news - people ) and Oracle (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ).
The first dose of reality for VMware investors came at the Oracle OpenWorld user conference, which took place November 11-15, where Oracle unveiled Oracle VM. The company shipped Oracle VM free to its users as a feature of its technology, and it got positive feedback.
Meanwhile, VMware’s rivals Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ), Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: SUNW - news - people ), and IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ) began using Xen hypervisor’s open source software in their products. Since Xen hypervisor is free the companies are able to sell their virtualization products at one-fifth of the price of VMware’s products.
At the same time, operating systems providers such as Novell (nasdaq: NOVL - news - people ) began providing virtualization in their operating systems.
Microsoft Corp. (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) previously said the first public release of the test version of Hyper-V would come out in the first quarter of next year.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company’s announcement gave its shares a 2.2%, or 76 cent, lift in late-afternoon trading on Thursday to $35.23.
"Virtualization" software lets a single computer function like multiple machines, allowing companies to spend less on equipment and energy in its data centers.
Microsoft's virtualization software will compete head-on with programs from VMware (nasdaq: VMW - news - people ) whose own shares were down 3.7%, or $3.68, to $95.55, in response to the news.
Numerous analysts had warned that encroaching competition from companies such as Microsoft would rain on VMware’s parade (See "Storm Clouds Ahead For VMware").
Canaccord Adams analyst Mark Kelleher said that the risk for VMware is that Microsoft decides to add virtualization as a feature for free in its products.
“There’s a lot of competition coming into the market right now and I think some of that competition put a little more reality around VMware,” Kelleher said three weeks ago.
When the 2007 fiscal year does finally come to a blessed close, one of the highlights should be VMware and its spectacularly successful initial public offering in August (See "Investors Can't Get Enough Of VMware").
When it first had its IPO, VMware had near-exclusive claim on the idea of virtualization, but once its competitors caught on, investors realized the firm was going to be just one player in the larger virtualization market. Now virtualization software is being duplicated for free by Xen hypervisor and being added as a feature of products sold by Citrix Systems (nasdaq: CTXS - news - people ) and Oracle (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ).
The first dose of reality for VMware investors came at the Oracle OpenWorld user conference, which took place November 11-15, where Oracle unveiled Oracle VM. The company shipped Oracle VM free to its users as a feature of its technology, and it got positive feedback.
Meanwhile, VMware’s rivals Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ), Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: SUNW - news - people ), and IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ) began using Xen hypervisor’s open source software in their products. Since Xen hypervisor is free the companies are able to sell their virtualization products at one-fifth of the price of VMware’s products.
At the same time, operating systems providers such as Novell (nasdaq: NOVL - news - people ) began providing virtualization in their operating systems.
Struggling Palm Lays Off Workers
SAN JOSE, Calif. -
Palm Inc., the troubled maker of Treo smart phones, laid off about 10 percent of its work force this week to cut expenses, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Sunnyvale-based company issued a statement Thursday confirming some layoffs were made as part of a restructuring. The person said Palm, (nasdaq: PALM - news - people ) which has a worldwide staff of 1,150, was eliminating more than 100 jobs. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Palm did not publicly disclose the number of layoffs.
Palm's statement said the restructuring, which also included some reassignments, was part of its ongoing effort to "focus and better align resources behind core initiatives" and "to ensure that our expenses are in line with projected revenues."
Palm has struggled against stiffening competition over the past year. Some missteps, including product delays and the cancellation in September of a portable computer call Foleo, have compounded the problem.
When the company reports its fiscal second-quarter results Tuesday, it has said it will swing to a wider loss than had been expected because of yet another delay in a product launch. The company did not name the product but analysts widely believe it is a Treo model slated for a major wireless carrier.
Palm warned last week that it now expects to post a second-quarter loss of 22 cents to 24 cents per share, compared to its projection made in October of a loss of 1 cent to 3 cents per share.
Revenue is expected to land between $345 million and $350 million, below Palm's earlier guidance of $370 million to $380 million.
The company said other factors behind the sales shortfall were an unforeseen increase in warranty repair expenses and higher-than-expected shipments of its low-priced Palm Centro smart phone, which cut into profit margins.
Shares of Palm, which have fallen more than 70 percent since October, were up 8 cents at $5.57 in afternoon trading Thursday.
Palm Inc., the troubled maker of Treo smart phones, laid off about 10 percent of its work force this week to cut expenses, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Sunnyvale-based company issued a statement Thursday confirming some layoffs were made as part of a restructuring. The person said Palm, (nasdaq: PALM - news - people ) which has a worldwide staff of 1,150, was eliminating more than 100 jobs. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Palm did not publicly disclose the number of layoffs.
Palm's statement said the restructuring, which also included some reassignments, was part of its ongoing effort to "focus and better align resources behind core initiatives" and "to ensure that our expenses are in line with projected revenues."
Palm has struggled against stiffening competition over the past year. Some missteps, including product delays and the cancellation in September of a portable computer call Foleo, have compounded the problem.
When the company reports its fiscal second-quarter results Tuesday, it has said it will swing to a wider loss than had been expected because of yet another delay in a product launch. The company did not name the product but analysts widely believe it is a Treo model slated for a major wireless carrier.
Palm warned last week that it now expects to post a second-quarter loss of 22 cents to 24 cents per share, compared to its projection made in October of a loss of 1 cent to 3 cents per share.
Revenue is expected to land between $345 million and $350 million, below Palm's earlier guidance of $370 million to $380 million.
The company said other factors behind the sales shortfall were an unforeseen increase in warranty repair expenses and higher-than-expected shipments of its low-priced Palm Centro smart phone, which cut into profit margins.
Shares of Palm, which have fallen more than 70 percent since October, were up 8 cents at $5.57 in afternoon trading Thursday.
AT&T Completes Acquisition of Ingenio
SAN ANTONIO --(Business Wire)-- AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced today the completion of the acquisition of Ingenio, a leading provider of Pay Per Call(R) technology. The combination will allow AT&T to better serve business directory and local search customers across its entire advertising and publishing portfolio. AT&T plans to quickly begin integrating Ingenio within AT&T's YELLOWPAGES.COM, and the organization will be overseen by Charles Stubbs, president and CEO of YELLOWPAGES.COM.
Integrating Ingenio's Pay Per Call solutions into AT&T's suite of offerings for advertisers will allow AT&T to provide additional options and tools for businesses to manage their advertising programs. The technology will provide an alternate performance-based lead-generation tool for businesses that want to reach customers. "AT&T remains committed to providing advertisers with comprehensive solutions," said Ray Wilkins, AT&T group president-Diversified Business. "The addition of Ingenio's capabilities will give advertisers the flexibility to easily manage their advertising needs across all platforms -- online, mobile and print."
The transaction is expected to have minimal impact on AT&T's results, including earnings per share. The addition of Ingenio's services further enhances AT&T's portfolio of directory and local search offerings. YELLOWPAGES.COM and AT&T Real Yellow Pages deliver unsurpassed visibility and value to advertisers. AT&T delivers print directories to more than 83 million residences and businesses in 22 states and has a premier online presence nationwide with the YELLOWPAGES.COM Network. Together, these products receive more than 5 billion consumer searches a year for local business information and provide more than 1 million advertisers with valuable sales leads to help their businesses grow.
Integrating Ingenio's Pay Per Call solutions into AT&T's suite of offerings for advertisers will allow AT&T to provide additional options and tools for businesses to manage their advertising programs. The technology will provide an alternate performance-based lead-generation tool for businesses that want to reach customers. "AT&T remains committed to providing advertisers with comprehensive solutions," said Ray Wilkins, AT&T group president-Diversified Business. "The addition of Ingenio's capabilities will give advertisers the flexibility to easily manage their advertising needs across all platforms -- online, mobile and print."
The transaction is expected to have minimal impact on AT&T's results, including earnings per share. The addition of Ingenio's services further enhances AT&T's portfolio of directory and local search offerings. YELLOWPAGES.COM and AT&T Real Yellow Pages deliver unsurpassed visibility and value to advertisers. AT&T delivers print directories to more than 83 million residences and businesses in 22 states and has a premier online presence nationwide with the YELLOWPAGES.COM Network. Together, these products receive more than 5 billion consumer searches a year for local business information and provide more than 1 million advertisers with valuable sales leads to help their businesses grow.
AT&T and BellSouth Merger
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:BLS) announced today an agreement to merge the two companies, a combination that will create a more effective and efficient provider in the wireless, broadband, video, voice and data markets.
The merger will streamline the ownership and operations of Cingular Wireless, which is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth. The new company will be more innovative, nimble and efficient, providing benefits to customers by combining the Cingular, BellSouth and AT&T networks into a single fully integrated wireless and wireline Internet Protocol network offering a full range of advanced solutions.
As a result, the combined company will be better able to speed the convergence of new and improved services for consumers and businesses, and embrace the industry's shift to Internet Protocol network-based technologies.
"Logical Next Step That Creates Substantial Value"
"This merger is a logical next step that creates substantial value for customers and stockholders of both AT&T and BellSouth," said AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr. "It will benefit customers through new services and expanded service capabilities. It will strengthen Cingular through unified ownership and a single brand. And we are confident that this is a merger we can execute, based on our track record with previous integrations and our experience working closely with BellSouth to create and build Cingular Wireless, and operate Yellowpages.com.
"This transaction combines two solid, very well-run companies," Whitacre added. "BellSouth operates in an attractive region with a growing economy. It has great employees and an outstanding network, with fiber optics deeply deployed in its service area. It has a strong record in terms of customer service and a sound, conservative balance sheet. These strengths, added to those of AT&T, will improve our ability to provide innovative services to more customers while returning substantial value to our owners and improving our growth profile."
"Technology changes and convergence are shaping a new competitive dynamic and creating tremendous opportunity," said Duane Ackerman, chairman and CEO of BellSouth. "We're creating a company with much better capabilities to seize these opportunities while maintaining its strong focus on customer service and community involvement.
"This was the right time for this merger," said Ackerman. "This combination is good for our employees, our customers and our stockholders."
AT&T has committed to continue BellSouth's historic levels of charitable contributions and community activities, including the continued funding of charitable activities and economic development and education initiatives throughout BellSouth's nine–state area.
"Our focus is on providing great service and innovative, competitively priced products for consumers and businesses throughout the Southeast, the nation and the world," said Whitacre. "Together, we will lead the way into a new era of converged and bundled communications, video and entertainment services while also improving our ability to manage complex networks."
Customer Benefits
Consumers seeking a real alternative to cable monopolies should see faster and more economical deployment of next-generation IP television networks and similar services as a result of AT&T's groundbreaking entry into IPTV and the unparalleled research and development work at AT&T Labs, coupled with BellSouth's extensive deployment of fiber networks for DSL and other broadband services.
Business customers in the southeastern United States and the rest of the country stand to benefit from the expertise and innovation of AT&T Labs, as well as the combination of AT&T's state-of-the-art national and international networks and advanced services with BellSouth's local exchange and broadband distribution platforms and expertise.
The combined company will have greater financial, technical, research and development, network and marketing resources to better serve consumers and large-business customers, and will accelerate the introduction of new and improved product and service sets for those customers.
The merger would also give business and government customers, including military and national security agencies, a reliable U.S.-based provider of integrated, secure, high-quality and competitively priced services to meet their needs anywhere in the world.
Since AT&T and BellSouth are not actual competitors in the local, long distance and video markets, and because BellSouth is not a significant competitor with AT&T in the enterprise market, the merger will not reduce competition in any of those markets
The merger will streamline the ownership and operations of Cingular Wireless, which is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth. The new company will be more innovative, nimble and efficient, providing benefits to customers by combining the Cingular, BellSouth and AT&T networks into a single fully integrated wireless and wireline Internet Protocol network offering a full range of advanced solutions.
As a result, the combined company will be better able to speed the convergence of new and improved services for consumers and businesses, and embrace the industry's shift to Internet Protocol network-based technologies.
"Logical Next Step That Creates Substantial Value"
"This merger is a logical next step that creates substantial value for customers and stockholders of both AT&T and BellSouth," said AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr. "It will benefit customers through new services and expanded service capabilities. It will strengthen Cingular through unified ownership and a single brand. And we are confident that this is a merger we can execute, based on our track record with previous integrations and our experience working closely with BellSouth to create and build Cingular Wireless, and operate Yellowpages.com.
"This transaction combines two solid, very well-run companies," Whitacre added. "BellSouth operates in an attractive region with a growing economy. It has great employees and an outstanding network, with fiber optics deeply deployed in its service area. It has a strong record in terms of customer service and a sound, conservative balance sheet. These strengths, added to those of AT&T, will improve our ability to provide innovative services to more customers while returning substantial value to our owners and improving our growth profile."
"Technology changes and convergence are shaping a new competitive dynamic and creating tremendous opportunity," said Duane Ackerman, chairman and CEO of BellSouth. "We're creating a company with much better capabilities to seize these opportunities while maintaining its strong focus on customer service and community involvement.
"This was the right time for this merger," said Ackerman. "This combination is good for our employees, our customers and our stockholders."
AT&T has committed to continue BellSouth's historic levels of charitable contributions and community activities, including the continued funding of charitable activities and economic development and education initiatives throughout BellSouth's nine–state area.
"Our focus is on providing great service and innovative, competitively priced products for consumers and businesses throughout the Southeast, the nation and the world," said Whitacre. "Together, we will lead the way into a new era of converged and bundled communications, video and entertainment services while also improving our ability to manage complex networks."
Customer Benefits
Consumers seeking a real alternative to cable monopolies should see faster and more economical deployment of next-generation IP television networks and similar services as a result of AT&T's groundbreaking entry into IPTV and the unparalleled research and development work at AT&T Labs, coupled with BellSouth's extensive deployment of fiber networks for DSL and other broadband services.
Business customers in the southeastern United States and the rest of the country stand to benefit from the expertise and innovation of AT&T Labs, as well as the combination of AT&T's state-of-the-art national and international networks and advanced services with BellSouth's local exchange and broadband distribution platforms and expertise.
The combined company will have greater financial, technical, research and development, network and marketing resources to better serve consumers and large-business customers, and will accelerate the introduction of new and improved product and service sets for those customers.
The merger would also give business and government customers, including military and national security agencies, a reliable U.S.-based provider of integrated, secure, high-quality and competitively priced services to meet their needs anywhere in the world.
Since AT&T and BellSouth are not actual competitors in the local, long distance and video markets, and because BellSouth is not a significant competitor with AT&T in the enterprise market, the merger will not reduce competition in any of those markets
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