5 Companies That Dropped The Ball This Week

AMD Once Again Denying Rumors That It's Looking For Buyer

Another week, another report that AMD is looking for a buyer. According to Reuters, AMD has brought JPMorgan Chase & Co. to explore options for the struggling chip maker, which could include a sale of all or part of the business.

AMD spokesperson Drew Prairie, in an emailed statement to CRN, offered a somewhat verbose assessment of the situation. "AMD's board and management believe that the strategy the company is currently pursuing to drive long-term growth by leveraging AMD's highly differentiated technology assets is the right approach to enhance shareholder value."

Huh?

"AMD is not actively pursuing a sale of the company or significant assets at this time," Prairie said in the statement.

OK, that clears things up.

Microsoft Exec Sinofsky Departs Amid Windows 8 Afterglow

Just two weeks after Microsoft's Windows 8 launch, an event that CEO Steve Ballmer has described as one of the three most important events in the company's history, Windows chief and 23-year veteran Steven Sinofsky has decided to leave. There are different theories about why Sinofsky left, and Ballmer showered praise on him on his way out, but it is safe to say that Microsoft will be challenged as a result of Sinofsky's departure, even though it may have been necessary to avoid further internal turmoil.

It's hard to say Microsoft dropped the ball based on the actions of one guy. But the timing here is not ideal, and it will do nothing to quell rumors about the Windows 8 user interface being a visual representation of the political factions battling for control within Microsoft.

Grumbling In Citrix Partner Ranks Over Direct Sales Program

Citrix's so-called High Touch program, in which the vendor is taking its top enterprise accounts direct, is rankling partners, and some feel they've been duped. Citrix rolled out the program in January and said partners would have the option of applying to be "invited" into deals, but so far not many are being extended that opportunity, sources told CRN.

Is this a classic example of channel conflict, or a strategic move on Citrix's part to ensure that its top customers are happy? That depends on whom you ask, but Citrix's longstanding reputation as one of the channel-friendliest vendors in the industry could be permanently dented if it doesn't figure out a way to soothe the angst here.

Dell's Profit Drops 47 Percent In Rocky Third Quarter

Sluggish consumer PC sales and the lurking specter of a slowdown in business IT spending weighed heavily on Dell in its fiscal third quarter, as profit dropped precipitously and revenue fell 11 percent.

The outlook doesn't look much better for Dell's fourth quarter, either, as CEO Michael Dell invoked the dreaded -- and overused -- phrase "challenging global macro-economic environment" to paint a picture of what investors can expect going forward.

Adobe Apologizes For Forum Hack Exposing User Passwords

A database breach of Adobe's forum for its Connect conferencing software caused the vendor to take the forum offline and reset user passwords. Adobe apologized to users in a blog post to its Connect forum.

"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause to our forum members. Your security is of critical importance to us, and we appreciate your patience as we work towards restoring Connectusers.com forum services," Adobe said in the blog post.