( 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