As if customers weren’t already confused by Oracle’s Fusion (is it middleware or is it an apps integration strategy?) Sneak hears that big cheese Larry Ellison is to further muddle matters by opening a restaurant specialising in fusion cuisine. Sneak advises giving this upcoming eatery a wide berth - if it shares anything with Oracle’s licensing, you’ll likely choke on the bill.

January 24, 2007 Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0)

This account of how to make your own wine left Sneak's hot, non-alcoholic beverage all over the desk, via the nasal cavities:
"You know, there's an old expression that says In wine, there is truth.  In this case, I could also make out some chunks and what appeared to be a severed foot. Then there was the 'white' wine. This one's aroma was slightly more earthy. Do you know that smell of grass right after it's cut? That's nice. I was just making chit-chat, because this smelled like rotten eggs tucked into the anus of a dead cat."

June 22, 2005 Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ah, the benefit of hindsight. Struggling supermarket chain Sainsbury's has admitted that its "complex supply chain solution" unfortunately "simply cannot be delivered to the required scale" and that its IT systems have proven more expensive and less effective than planned. The result being some very empty shelves - embarrassingly not due to the grabbing hands of eager shoppers. So the retailer is now busily doing what beleaguered businesses always do: throwing out staff and refocusing on things that the management hasn't managed to break yet. Of course it's all rather poor news for those who might have crowed in the past about what a great job was being done delivering that complex supply chain solution. Congratulations must surely be due to business magazine Supply Chain Management Review for its particularly helpful and indeed glowing case study into Sainsbury's supply chain miracle. Published in May this year, the article details the "substantial wins on many fronts" delivered by the system. But far be it from Sneak to simply shoot the messenger. No, stars of the article Accenture and Sun Microsystems must surely both deserve a bullet too.

October 20, 2004 Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just look at the price of Tesco.com’s special-offer chipolatas! No wonder profits are up...

October 1, 2004 Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pret A Manger, the chain of sandwich shops that appears to account for roughly 90 percent of the UK's consumption of mayonnaise, has evidently been studying what works in software. It's gone all open source. Sadly that doesn't mean it has introduced a roast penguin and mayonnaise sandwich, but it has posted the recipes for some of its key products on its web site. Much like the source code for Linux, it's nice to know that the technical details are available, even if you don't feel a pressing need to actually bother looking for yourself. After all, even butter-fingered Sneak is capable of making a cheese-and-pickle sarnie without Pret's patronising PDF of directions.

June 8, 2004 Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0)