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03/02/2005: "more executive head-rolling @ Vivato"

I'm informed that Chris Demarche, Vivato's "Senior Vice President Marketing & Business Development", has left the building.

I am not suprised. I don't know anyone who can work for (or perhaps even with) Vivato's CEO, Don Stalter. The man's poisonous combination of ignorance, arrogance and uncivil manner will grate on the best of personalities. Those less exalted are typically filled with a seething rage where Don is concerned. Stalter is totally unfit for human company, a prototypical Neanderthal asshole with a bad case of short-man's syndrome.

Few can stomach reporting to the man for long. Most don't make it beyond six months, and Demarche lasted no longer than the others.

Vistard (s/a/u/) was a "wireless broadband for business" play that Demarche tried to get funded on the back of Vivato's 1st-generation product. When Vivato failed to deliver on the claims of its founders, (and the VCs subsequently ass-raped the company for that failure), Vistard was shattered, so Chris, and a few of his fellow travelers showed up at Vivato late last September, having been hired to help make the market for wireless broadband happen.

Demarche may finally be aware that the wet-dream of wireless broadband isn't good for more than crusty stains on the front of your pants while basking in the anticipatory stage, and brown streaks inside your pants once the buzz is gone, the babe turns hag, and you finally understand that you'll never compete with a wired infrastructure.

In other news, looks like Vivato is finally trying to dump its inventory of the 1st generation product, pricing it (at retail) for less than 50% of what it cost to manufacture. Meanwhile, the cost of the enclosure has risen to $10,000.