Howdy, EDA vendors!

PLEASE READ THIS CLOSELY BECAUSE STUFF HAS CHANGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
If you're a vendor showing something at this upcoming DAC in San Francisco
and you want me to consider it from the 2009 My Cheesy Must See List, please
follow these instructions below.
 
Here's last year's Cheesy column:
 
               http://www.deepchip.com/gadfly/gad060608.html
 
It got 14,634 pageviews and a lot of people last year printed it out and used
it as a DAC floorshow guide (which was my intent.)
 
If you have a *specific* NEW tool OR an interesting ADDITION to an OLD tool
that you think I should have in this upcoming "Cheesy Must See" column,
please fill out this form:
 

----------------------------- BEGIN CUT HERE ------------------------------
 
YOUR COMPANY:
 
YOUR TOOL:
 
WHAT TOOL DOES:
 
WHO/WHAT TOOL(S) IT COMPETES AGAINST:
 
WHAT IS SPECIAL THIS YEAR ABOUT THIS TOOL AT DAC:
 
WHAT SPECIFIC COMPANIES USE THIS TOOL:
 
DAC BOOTH NUMBER:
 
TECH CONTACT(s) WHO SUPPORTS YOUR TOOL:
 
CELL PHONE NUMBERS OF TECH CONTACTS:

NAMES OF YOUR TECH GUYS WHO WILL BE IN YOUR DAC BOOTH:
 
YOUR DAC FREEBIE THIS YEAR:
 
ANYTHING EXTRA YOU WANT TO SAY:
 
RELATED JUICY STORY:
 
------------------------------- END CUT HERE ------------------------------

 
Please email this completed form to  .
 
Use the Subject: New Cheesy COMPANY NAME_YOUR_TOOL_HERE
 
Examples:
 
     Subject: New Cheesy Mentor ModelSim Encompass
     Subject: New Cheesy Magma Talus
     Subject: New Cheesy Synopsys IC Compiler
 
The deadline is 4:00 PM Monday, July 20st for the forms!!!!!

IN YOUR EMAIL TO BE DO NOT SEND HTML, ATTACHMENTS, WORD DOCS, NOR
ANYTHING FANCY.  SEND ONLY ASCII TEXT INSIDE THE BODY OF AN EMAIL.


===========================================================================
 
For an example here is a form that's already been filled out:

  YOUR COMPANY: Synopsys
 
  YOUR TOOL: C Compiler
 
  WHAT TOOL DOES: synthesizes C/C++/SystemC directly to gates
 
  WHO/WHAT TOOL(S) IT COMPETES AGAINST: Forte Cynthesizer, Mentor CatapultC,
            Cadence C-to-Silicon, AutoESL AutoPilot
 
  WHAT IS SPECIAL THIS YEAR ABOUT THIS TOOL AT DAC: Only C synth tool that
            synthesizes directly to gates; other only synth to RTL.
 
  WHAT SPECIFIC COMPANIES USE THIS TOOL: Intel, Toshiba, Sony, Freescale
 
  DAC BOOTH NUMBER: 1120
 
  TECH CONTACT(s) WHO SUPPORTS YOUR TOOL: Frank Tsu and Mark Warren
 
  CELL PHONE NUMBERS OF TECH CONTACTS: (650) 123-4567 cell and
      (408) 987-6543 cell

  NAMES OF YOUR TECH GUYS WHO WILL BE IN YOUR DAC BOOTH: Frank Tsu
      and Mark Warren
 
  YOUR DAC FREEBIE THIS YEAR: Stuffed squirrels
 
  ANYTHING EXTRA YOU WANT TO SAY: C Compiler was originally from a
      stealth start-up by Steve Golson called "C Boingo" in 2007.
      The synth tool was originally named "Crusher".
 
  RELATED JUICY STORY: Cadence tried to buy this company, too, but we
      outbid them.  It cost SNPS $25 million.
 
===========================================================================
 
 
Q: Can we be vague?  Can we do used car sales techniques on this form?  For
   example, can we just say some empty come-on like "Come to our booth and
   you'll get a great surprize!"?  Can we say our users are "all the major
   IDM's" instead of naming specific names?
 
A: No.  People read the Cheesy Must See List for tech meat.  If you really
   have no meat to your tool, why are you showing at DAC?  Name names.
   Give specific numbers.  "Fastest in the industry" == BULLSHIT.  "It runs
   64 bits at 2.3 Mhz" == real data.

   Also, please don't cut-and-paste bloated verbage from your press release
   to put in your form -- John is the only one reading the forms; please
   talk to him in a not hype way, OK?  Cut to the chase.


Q: What if we have added a bunch of new features to OLD tools?  Can we put
   that in for consideration?

A: Hell, yes!  Assuming that these are REAL significant new features and
   not a GUI change.  Send in a separate completed form for each tool
   you're talking about.
 
 
Q: Why do you need the tech contacts and their cell phone numbers?
 
A: Because I must sort through 300 products/tools for the Cheesy list and if
   I have a tech question, I need the DIRECT person to talk to right away.  I
   don't have time for the runaround.  I don't need the PR person, sales, nor
   any other in-between people -- I need the Technical Marketing Manager and
   their tech equivalents who can quickly and directly answer my technical
   questions.  I WILL NOT BE PUBLISHING THEIR CELL NUMBERS ANYWHERE.  THIS IS
   SOLELY FOR COOLEY SO HE CAN ASK ABOUT YOUR TOOLS FOR HIS CHEESY COLUMN.
 
 
Q: When is this Cheesy Must See List going to be public?
 
A: Thursday, July 23rd -- which is 4 days before DAC Monday.  This gives the
   EDA users the time to print out the list and read it on the plane as they
   fly to San Francisco.
 
 
Q: What's the deadline for us to email the completed form(s) to John Cooley?
 
A: 4:00 PM, Monday, July 20th.  I need time to choose the best tools
   and to write up about the best tools.  EARLIER COMPLETED FORMS GET MORE
   ATTENTION!!!!  INCOMPLETE FORMS GET DELETED!!!
 
 
Q: How do I know John Cooley successfully got our emailed form?
 
A: I will email a reply back that says "I got it".  If you don't get the
   "I got it" reply from me within 18 hours, send it again.
 
 
Q: How many people actually read this Cheesy Must See List?
 
A: It was viewed 14,634 times last year. 
 
 
Q: Do you mind if I send you lots of bloated press releases and powerpoint
   presentations as attachments?  Will it help?
 
A: No, please don't.  I'll ask if I want them.  You should be able to do a
   good elevator pitch in the form.  If you can't, something's wrong.
   Also, don't send me attachments anyway.  My system sees attachments as
   worms/viruses and deletes them.
 
 
Q: My product is super great and has absolutely no competitors!
 
A: Please don't waste both of our time with such games.  If I dig enough I'll
   find all of your competitors and how others do exactly what your "new"
   tool does.  If you make it too much work to consider your product, I'll
   just move on.  Please, without games, make it easy for me to understand
   what your new tool does and how it fits vs. its specific named rivals.
 
 
Q: I'm in a big company with multiple products to show, what should I do?
 
A: Please send a SEPARATE email and form for each product you want me to
   consider for the Cheesy Must See list.  Separate!  I don't want one big
   monster email from Mentor; I'd rather hear about individual tools from
   individual groups.  This is NOT about Cadence vs. Synopsys vs. Mentor
   vs. Magma -- it's about which specific fast SPICE simulator is the best.
   It's tool talk, not company talk.
 
 
Q: What is NOT a DAC freebie?
 
A: A chance to win anything is NOT a DAC freebie.  A DAC freebie is what any
   idiot who visits your booth and sees your demo gets.  Any idiot.  It's NOT
   the 12 iPods that you're only giving to the Intel executives with big PO
   signing authority.  Or the lotto drawing every hour for that Xbox 360.
 
 
Q: What if our company DAC freebie is lame?
 
A: Tell me about it anyway.  The freebie talk is for fun.  What customers are
   at DAC really for is the tools.  Don't get nervous about your company's
   freebies.  If it's a cheap water bottle, say "it's a cheap water bottle".
 
 
Q: What should small start-ups do extra?
 
A: You might want to mention what specific VC's are backing you or places
   where you're beta-ing your tool.  Not required, it's just a suggestion.
   Customers are always curious about how stable a small start-up is.
 
 
Q: What if I have a juicy story associated with our product or our rival's
   product(s)?
 
A: Tell me about it.  Nothing's more fun than a good juicy story!  People
   love a good story from the EDA world.
 
 
Q: I'm the cousin to the hairdresser to the PR lady who's actually promoting
   this tool, can I submit a form?
 
A: As long as all the info on the form is correct, I don't care who sends in
   the form.  That is, yes, I want the names and cell numbers of the tech
   support people for the nominated tool, but these specific people do NOT
   have to be the ones sending me the nomination form.
 
 
Q: How can I sabotage my own application?
 
A: Send me a big verbose write-up that makes all sorts of bold yet patently
   empty marketing claims.  Stuff like "Synopsys, Inc., a world leader in
   semiconductor design software ..." or "Cadence enables global electronic
   design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of ...".
   Write stuff that talks at me.  Make it a lot of work to figure what you
   are really doing at DAC.  Add lots of unrelated side facts that a chip
   designer doesn't give a squat about.  Like there will be finger painting
   at your booth.  Or that your theme this year is about whatever.  All the
   stuff that has nothing to do with actual chip design.
 
   I'm one man.  I'll have 300 of these to sort through.  The closer to the
   point (plus related juicy stories), the easier the top 20 is chosen.
 
 
Q: How can I help my own application?
 
A: Any time where you can add real stuff like real benchmark data or that
   TSMC internally uses your tool exclusively or that IBM kicked out your
   rival in a public competition, this helps.  (NOT that TSMC *supports*
   your tool, because they support every tool, but actual use.)
 
   Real hard data is always impressive.
 
 
Q: I'm confused and lost and don't know what to do.
 
A: Feel free to give me a call at (508) 429-4357.