( SNUG 99 Item 8 ) ----------------------------------------------- [3/31/99]
ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING: The fact that SNUGs are (virtually) devoid
of any Synopsys marketing presentations is something greatly appreciated
by most users. And not only are SNUGs a great place to get all sorts
of useful user tips, you can also get solutions to your really tricky
Synopsys problems there, too, (because of all the experienced users,
Synopsys CAEs, Synopsys R&D, and other techo-nitpickers are there.) And,
you can also get help on more serious (what I call "infrastructural")
problems, too.
Solving "infrastructural problems" requires having a Synopsys bigwig from
upstairs and a lowly customer meeting face to face (because the bigwigs
are the only ones with the real authority to create "infrastructural
change". An example of this was during the Q&A part of Aart's speech,
Kurt Baty (a chip designer) openly complained about Design Compiler not
being able it to handle very large designs. At first, Aart understandably
tried to pooh-pooh Kurt's problem as being very specific to his design
because it was 10 million gates. Kurt countered that he didn't think he
was the only one dealing with DC Capacity Fatals and asked any other users
facing this to raise their hand. Approximately 60 out of the 367 people
in the room (~16 percent) raised their hands. Suddenly the conversation
then shifted to moving DC from its 32-bit (4 Gigabit limit) implementation
to a 64-bit (a *much* bigger 1.8 x 10^19 bit limit). And you can bet that
more effort will be brought to bear on Kurt's problem pretty damn soon.
Conversely, if Kurt had handled this through accepted channels, his
"problem" would have been classified by the techno-nitpickers as not even
being a bug but as a low priority "enhancement request" from a kook doing
an absurdly large design. ("Uh... We'll do the 'enhancement requests'
sometime in 2005 -- after we get *all* the bugs out! Hahahahaha!")
"What's this 'Elvis Has Left The Building' stuff, John?," you ask. It's
because at this year's SNUG'99, other than a cameo appearance by Aart,
virtually *none* of the Synopsys bigwigs (the VP's and GM's) deigned
meet the lowly end users this year. This is a very dangerous precedence.
Instead only the techno-nitpickers (Synopsys CAE's, R&D, tech support)
plus a number of middle managers, and a few observing marketeers came.
Bad idea. It not only leaves the Synopsys "infrastructural problems"
unfixable by customers, it also recklessly leaves Synopsys management
vulnerable to their own soothsaying Marketeers, yes-men, and Rasputins.
And many times these weaselly flatterers are more caught up in their own
Palace Intrigues than presenting the Real Truths their customers are
facing. Is a VSS (VHDL) Marketing Manager ever going to say "Hey, let's
dump our internally developed VHDL simulator, buy Chronologic, and sell
the world's fastest Verilog simulator instead!"? (And you tell me: would
*you* bet *your* livelihood on a Collett Market Forecast???)
"I spend a good bit of my time listening to marketing presentations.
They are almost all exactly alike: a marketing guy drones through a
series of PowerPoint slides. Invariably, they quote market
predictions by "analysts." As nearly as I can tell, what these
analysts do is poll all their customers (i.e., marketing guys), get
some data, massage it, and sell the data back to the marketing guys
for a couple of thousand dollars a pop."
- Chuck Small, Senior Tech Editor at "Electronic Systems" magazine
"The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered
as a means of communication."
- an 1876 corporate memo from Western Union (a telegraph company.)
"An island of stability."
- President Jimmy Carter (1979) describing the Shah of Iran. The
Shah was overthrown a few months later.
"I share your view that the urgent problem of species extinction and
the conservation of biological diversity should be addressed. The
first step in saving any plant or animal from extinction is to become
aware of and respect the fragile ecosystems that make up our
environment."
- a 1996 letter from Vice President Al Gore to a Dallas couple who
complained about the elimination of the "Texas Eagle". The
"Texas Eagle" was an Amtrack train connecting Dallas to Chicago.
"Beyond a doubt, all stories about large bodies of Indians being
here are the merest bosh."
- General George Armstrong Custer, 1876, a few weeks before being
massacred by a large body of Indians at Little Big Horn
"Don't worry about it. It's nothing."
- U.S. Navy Lt. Tyler, Dec. 7, 1941, upon being informed that radar
had just picked a large formation of planes heading for Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii.
"I think Synopsys is facing some real challenges next year. I've got
Design Compiler blowing out on my current design. As a user and a
stockholder I'm concerned. Design Compiler is using too much memory."
- chip designer and consultant Kurt Baty at Aart's speech
"I second Kurt's problems. We, at HP, are seeing this, too."
- an anon voice in the crowd at Aart's speech
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