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Former CA Boss Gets 12 Years, $8M Fine

mwnyc writes "The BBC is reporting on the sentence issued today to former CA boss Sanjay Kumar, who had pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and securities fraud. Mr. Kumar is expected to begin serving time in February 2007. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Kumar could have faced life in prison but the judge called that punishment 'unreasonable.'"

150 comments

  1. Heh, I knew it! by itwerx · · Score: 3, Informative

    Having run into CA's products off and on over the years I've always wondered how the hell they stayed in business...

    1. Re:Heh, I knew it! by whoever57 · · Score: 1
      Having run into CA's products off and on over the years I've always wondered how the hell they stayed in business...
      The only one of their products that I ever used was SuperProject, which actually was very good and made MS-Project look like a toy in comparison. Of course CA dropped this product years ago.
      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    2. Re:Heh, I knew it! by drgroove · · Score: 1

      SuperProject is gone, but CA recently acquired Niku, which has possibly the single best project/portfolio management tool available - Clarity.

    3. Re:Heh, I knew it! by 10scjed · · Score: 1

      CA had very few of its own projects, they just bought everyone else up. Only problem was they would axe everyone who UNDERSTOOD the damn products and they would inevitably fall to shit. Then there was CA Licensing, on the mainframe (CA90s) it wasnt so bad, but on the client/server side it was absurd.

      --
      --10scjed IANAL,AFAIK
    4. Re:Heh, I knew it! by LVWolfman · · Score: 2, Informative
      Having run into CA's products off and on over the years I've always wondered how the hell they stayed in business...


      I've only used one CA product that I know of, CA Realizer. Realizer was a BASIC IDE/Compiler for Win16 and OS/2 that in my opinion blew the doors off of MS Visual Basic for Windows.

      Part of this was probably due to the fact that I'm an old school BASIC programmer (TRS-80 Model I Level II, Commodore 64/128, AmigaBASIC, GWBasic, QuickBasic, MS Professional Development System 7, etc.) About the time that Realizer hit the market, VisualBASIC offered a programming paradigm where you designed the interface first, then stuck in little bits of code after the fact. This approach was totally foreign and counter intuitive to me. It made it especially hard to review code.

      CA Realizer on the other hand, offered you a blank editor for programming. Oh, you want to design the GUI portion? Run the window editor, design to your heart's content and when you save it, Realizer inserted the BASIC programming code for the window and widgets into your code. So now a window was just another function.

      Realizer ran quicker and provided smaller executables than Visual Basic plus it worked cross-platform. However, Microsoft marketing and lack of a desire on CA's part to move Realizer into the 32 bit world killed it. So I pretty much had to switch to Visual Basic at least until Version 6 came out.

      Today, I use REALBasic... the IDE offers me blank code codes or the GUI design screens, is much more object oriented than Visual BASIC and is cross-platform (Win32, Apple OS9, Apple OS X (Universal Binary, PowerPC, Intel), Win98 and later and Linux) all from the same source code. The only real downside to it is that it doesn't have an optimizing compiler and includes all the normal runtimes in the executable. So a "Hello World" console application is 364K while a single window with static text displaying "Hello World" is 3.7M.

      I hope that Real Software doesn't go the way of Computer Associates.
    5. Re:Heh, I knew it! by freedom_india · · Score: 1

      We use Niku in our organisation. It's web based and is easy to use. But power-wise it still lacks SuperProject.

      --
      "Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
    6. Re:Heh, I knew it! by cruachan · · Score: 1

      Oh absolutly. If you used a system and it was brought by CA you knew that within 6 months you were going to be (a) screwed by a price increase and (b) screwed because there would be no support or new development beyond rushing out what was already in the pipeline.

      In the late 1980's I worked for a UK Blue Chip company that had a semi-official 'No CA' policy. Indeed when CA took over Clipper (a dBase III clone) which they used for most desktop development at that point they immediatly decided that there would be no more development with it and all existing projects were reviewed for a move to Foxbase.

    7. Re:Heh, I knew it! by joshsnow · · Score: 1

      Similar here. I remember using IngresWindows4GL back in 1994 - it was second (in the UK at least) to Oracle. The big four were, Oracle, Ingres, Sybase and Informix. The job market for Ingres pros was on fire but then the company which owned Ingres ran into trouble and sold the product to CA. Within a year, everyone was trying to jump ship or had already jumped and there were hardly any Ingres jobs being advertised.

    8. Re:Heh, I knew it! by GooberToo · · Score: 1

      Ya, I remember looking at it under OS/2. I liked it...we just didn't have a need for it based on our product line. And I agree...it shamed MS' offering.

    9. Re:Heh, I knew it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I've always wondered how the hell they stayed in business...

      A very good marketing team who knows that targeting managers and executives is far more important than targeting techs.

    10. Re:Heh, I knew it! by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      CA are the trash bond merchants of the IT world. Buy, strip, dump.

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
    11. Re:Heh, I knew it! by msobkow · · Score: 1

      People often misunderstand what CA does.

      They provide maintenance services for dead product lines that have existing service and support contracts for their production systems. When the product line is killed, the existing contracts still have to be honoured. CA buys those service contracts as a product-line bundle.

      It's not a glamorous business, and of course the products in question don't get new features and major enhancements. They're already on life-cycle support.

      --
      I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    12. Re:Heh, I knew it! by cr0sh · · Score: 1
      From one longtime BASIC programmer to another, I salute you for your support of the language...


      With that said - I am curious how you deal/cope with people who verbally attack, etc - BASIC programmers and users, the language and such? For myself, I defend when needed, and ignore when absurd.

      I personally love BASIC, and in my career I can't seem to leave it (currently I work for a company doing old-school ASP work, for example). At home, I have mainly moved on the Perl, PHP, and Python. While I know C/C++, I just don't find the development environment as easy to use, so I typically avoid it unless I absolutely need the speed or low-level access to hardware it can grant (which for most things I write, I don't). Really, it breaks down in "quick-scripts: Perl or Bash", "web-work: Perl or PHP", "regular application: Perl or Python".

      But BASIC calls me - I haven't played with RealBasic, yet, but one that I did play with and even did some documentation for it was a real old-school-style interpreter called Blassic (supposedly "Classic BASIC"). It runs fairly quickly on a modern Linux system, and has features to target a windowed graphics screen (and capture mouse events) in X. If it allowed you to call on other libraries and could be compiled natively, I would probably do more than "play with it". Since Python can do both, and is very "BASIC-like", I use it instead.

      I know other BASICs out there for Linux allow for compilation and such, but part of me is afraid of getting too "engrossed" with one so that I "forget" what I know of the other languages I do use for development, from lack of use. For me, I like the simplicity - it is just a syntax, after all. I have often thought about building a simple "BASIC" that has a structure and syntax similar to C, then run it through a pre-processor that would turn it into C, then that through the regular gcc/C toolchain to produce an executable. What ultimately holds me back is the fact that in order to do so, I would end up with a much greater in-depth understanding of C that I might as well use it instead of the new "BASIC language" I would end up creating. Even so, such a "BASIC compiler" should be possible, right?

      I just don't understand why there is so much hate for BASIC - especially modern incarnations (yes, there are picky points about all languages, and BASIC has more than its share - but versions made since the QuickBasic 4.5 days and beyond aren't actually that bad - and VB6 came close to OOP. BTW, if you want to see a real OOP BASIC, although geared toward reporting only, check out the BASIC inside of Actuate's reporting software - it is like what VB6 should have been).

      --
      Reason is the Path to God - Anon
    13. Re:Heh, I knew it! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      It's not a glamorous business, and of course the products in question don't get new features and major enhancements. They're already on life-cycle support.

      They also don't get working bug fixes or useful product support.

      By the time a product gets to CA, it's not on life-cycle support. It's already dead, it's just running around like the proverbial decapitated poultry.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    14. Re:Heh, I knew it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      M$ is still in business!

    15. Re:Heh, I knew it! by Red+Leader. · · Score: 1

      You can rest assured that CA will fire all of the developers, milk Niku for every penny its worth, and then scrap it just like every other piece of technology they acquire.

      CA is a sales organization, plain and simple. Acquire, fire, sell, sell, sell, drop. They couldn't develop a coat rack if their lives depended on it.

    16. Re:Heh, I knew it! by supersnail · · Score: 1

      CA never bothered much with marketing as they were hated by said same executives!

      They just but up smaller but undercapitalised companies with a locked in user base
      and made thier products profitable by hiking up the license fees and dropping all
      product development.

      This was a paticular headache in the ye olde worlde mainframe worlde.
      There was this nice little security product called TopSecret which was aquired by
      CA. After a year or two of price hikes and no support the client site I was working
      at decided to switch. They chose a rival product ACF after an expensive and
      incredibly disruptive conversion the new system went in. About two months later
      the IT manager picked up his computer weekly to find "CA buys ACF" on page 4.
      He filed for early retirement. His succesor embarked on an exepensive and incerdibly .........

      --
      Old COBOL programmers never die. They just code in C.
    17. Re:Heh, I knew it! by innocent_white_lamb · · Score: 1
      --
      If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
    18. Re:Heh, I knew it! by LVWolfman · · Score: 1
      At the risk of getting further off topic of this story ;-) ...

      With that said - I am curious how you deal/cope with people who verbally attack, etc - BASIC programmers and users, the language and such? For myself, I defend when needed, and ignore when absurd.

      Actually, I haven't run into anti-BASIC sentiments in a long time. Guess either I'm lucky, or most programmers of other languages realize that today's BASIC languages are very capable.

      But BASIC calls me - I haven't played with RealBasic, yet

      If you decide to try it, Real Software offers a free license for the Linux version of REALBasic Standard, when you first use it, you just choose the Standard option, no information goes to Real Software. The Standard version doesn't do cross-platform compiles and the only database support is an internal single-user implementation of SQL Lite.
    19. Re:Heh, I knew it! by cr0sh · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the info - if I do get around to trying it out, I will keep it in mind...

      --
      Reason is the Path to God - Anon
    20. Re:Heh, I knew it! by cr0sh · · Score: 1
      This is a very interesting article. A long time ago, I wrote a graphics library for mode 13h (320x200x256 colors) for QuickBasic 4.5, and also ported it to QBasic 1.1 and PowerBasic 3.5 (IIRC) - called "The Blast! Library" (I think you can still find it out there).


      I wonder how well it would work under such a setup as depicted by that link? It is something I have wanted to try for a while (I am not sure it would work, though - I made heavy use of direct VGA hardware access to get the library to do what it did, which may limit it in these areas).

      Thanks for the link!

      --
      Reason is the Path to God - Anon
    21. Re:Heh, I knew it! by Douglas+Goodall · · Score: 1

      A friend of mine wrote a popular PC basic system that is quite extensive. When I was working with him, we talked about him writing a C++ backend to his compiler and the last I knew he was cranking out the c++ runtime for use with the generated c++ output of the compiler. I think it's a good idea. I think that the reason for the bias against BASIC is that years ago, it lacked the features that would be neeed for writing a full featured application program with the bells and whistles. I know that eventually Microsoft added features for using COM, Active X, and stuff like that. I think my bias against Microsoft Basic was that it was single sourced and as a wise software engineer, I avoid using single source tools where possible because it closes off opportunity if you get a chance to port your software to another platform. I mean to say, use VB and your pretty much stuck on Windows, that's the way Microsoft likes it. I am a system programmer, whoo has been self employed for 25 years. At my yearly review, where I evaluate myself because I am my own boss, I ask myself questions like, how many new operating systems did I learn this year? How many nw programming languages have I been using this year. Have I embraced any new networking topologies this year? Coming from that position, I have the use of lots of programming languages, and I tend to choose multi sourced tools. That has come to mean GNU since Mac Xcode is GNU under the hood. I guess it has hurt me over the years to not know VB, but it's been a dignity issue for me. I don't like to behave in a way that promotes the agenda of the monopolistic Microsoft. Thanks for your elegant note. Here is my thoughtful reply. I hope what I have said helps you understand why Basic is a hard sell to some people. Respectfully, Doug

  2. Where have all the mods gone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    I know this is completely off-topic, but i've been noticing a major lack of moderation of comments over the past few days. Not a single story on the front page has more than 5 comments rated +5, and only a few more rated +3 or +4. And there are trolls which arent being modded down, when usually mods jump at the chance to lower someone else's karma!

    So what's the problem, do people just not care anymore, or is it an issue with the moderating system? I'm not sure if this is related, but I still have 1 mod point that supposedly expires on October 28th. Does anyone else have expired mod points they can still use?

    A concerned /.er (anonymous for obvious reasons)

    1. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by cunina · · Score: 2, Funny

      -1, Offtopic.

    2. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I also noticed that. But I've been here long enough to not really get concerned about it. That's what happens when you mess with the moderation system on live production servers. It will take them a while but they will eventually manage to fix their mistakes.

    3. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by bostonsoxfan · · Score: 2, Funny

      There is a code glitch to the best of my knowledge. I got mod points a couple days ago and I used three of them before they were due to expire, and it it four days after the fact and I still have the ones that I haven't used.

    4. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "So what's the problem, do people just not care anymore, or is it an issue with the moderating system?"
      It's an issue with the moderating system (which was put together by Diebold).

    5. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't moderate anymore, probably because I modded down karma whores and gave timecop his well deserved +1's at times.

    6. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by houghi · · Score: 1

      I notice this as well. Also I get much, much, much less modpoints. It used to be every two weeks or so, now every two months.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    7. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by tekrat · · Score: 1

      Yeah, used to be (BEFORE THE NEW CSS REDESIGN), I would get mod points once every two weeks or so -- these days, I haven't seen a single invite to moderate. I think there are a lot of people like me who have been "forgotten' buy the new slashcode, and we don't get to moderate anymore.

      Maybe someone should do an "ask slashdot" story for that one!

      --
      If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
    8. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm noticing this too. I expected my last anonymous post to be modded up to a 5, but instead it was completely ignored. Obviously, the problem must be with everyone else.

    9. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by EvilIdler · · Score: 1

      I seem to get weekly modpoints. Be afraid..be very afraid!

    10. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by Aqua_boy17 · · Score: 1

      As long as we're already off topic...I've noticed as well that there seems to be a lot less mod participation lately. And yesterday, I had a comment modded +1 insightful which later was recinded. I thought I was losing my mind until I got an e-mail notification stating that it was most likely caused by someone modding the comment, then posting in the thread which would invalidate the mod point.

      --
      What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
    11. Re:Where have all the mods gone? by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      They're probably all Firehosing.

      You're right about the moderating.

  3. I'm not seeing the story by aussie_a · · Score: 1

    Okay, I'm not really seeing the story. Criminal breaks law. Criminal gets caught. Criminal gets sent to jail. News at 11?

    Seriously, what's so interesting about this story? Was it a famous company? Sure he got a lot of money in fraud, but is that in and of itself really that interesting?

    1. Re:I'm not seeing the story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is old news ,this was already out early today

    2. Re:I'm not seeing the story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      CA is a large software/computer related company. Does that spell it out for you, or do you need more help?

    3. Re:I'm not seeing the story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Clearly he should be sent to jail, but 12 years sounds like a lot of time, even if gets shortened for parole. This man cheated to make the quarterly numbers and lied to cover it up, but it doesn't sound like a totally corrupt, pulling the wool over investor's eyes like what occurred at Enron for instance.

    4. Re:I'm not seeing the story by tibike77 · · Score: 1

      Justice might be blind, but it can recognize a banknote by touch, apparently... that's the news, I guess.

      "life in prison would have been to harsh, let's give him 12 years instead".
      Whoa, that kind of thing would have never happened to, say a petty thief that stole some food to feed his family (instead of, I don't know, robbing somebody at knife-point or worse), now would it ?

      --
      By reading this signature you agree to not disagree with the post you just read.
    5. Re:I'm not seeing the story by Andrew+Kismet · · Score: 0

      4e 65 78 74 20 74 69 6d 65 20 49 20 77 6f 6e 27 74 20 62 6f 74 68 65 72 20 64 65 63 72 79 70 74 69 6e 67 20 79 6f 75 72 20 68 65 78 2e

    6. Re:I'm not seeing the story by tibike77 · · Score: 1

      Hey, I bothered "decyphering" yours :)
      And mine is in the signature, and it's short too :D

      --
      By reading this signature you agree to not disagree with the post you just read.
    7. Re:I'm not seeing the story by alienmole · · Score: 1

      Yes, it was a famous company. For a long time, it was the second biggest software company by revenue, after Microsoft. Many people in the computer industry in the U.S. have had dealings with them, one way or another. They were also famous for bad practices: terrible employee relations, annual reorganizations for no good reason, stuffing the sales channel, lying to Wall Street, acquiring companies and then running them and their products into the ground, the list goes on. I suspect many people are personally pleased to see Sanjay Kumar go to jail.

    8. Re:I'm not seeing the story by jcr · · Score: 1

      Thanks for your comments, counselor. Bummer that you weren't able to get your client a walk, isn't it?

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    9. Re:I'm not seeing the story by spookymonster · · Score: 2, Interesting

      In 1995, Computer Associates (now known as CA) bought up nearly every third party MVS (IBM's mainframe OS) application. In the industry, it was seen as the death knell of the mainframe; it reduced the choice of software vendors down to 2 monolithic companies. On the one side, you had IBM with their over-complicated software (a study once found that the average IBM manual read at the post-grad level) selling at loss-leader prices. On the other side, you had CA buying up their competitors, then announcing those products were being twilighted in favor of their own 'best-of-breed' (read: 'largest profit margin') software.

      --
      - Despite popular opinion, I am not perfect.
    10. Re:I'm not seeing the story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      During the trial Mr Kumar pleaded the below:

      Well, I'm not the kind to kiss and tell,
      But I've been seen with Farrah.
      I'm never seen with anything less than a nine, so fine.

      I've been on fire with Sally Field,
      Gone fast with a girl named Bo,
      But somehow they just don't end up as mine.

      It's a death defyin' life I lead,
      I take my chances.
      I die for a livin' in the movies and TV.
      But the hardest thing I ever do
      Is watch my leadin' ladies
      Kiss some other guy while I'm bandagin' my knee.

      I might fall from a tall building,
      I might roll a brand new car.
      'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman that made Redford such a star.

      I never spend much time in school
      But I taught ladies plenty.
      It's true I hire my body out for pay, Hey Hey.

      I've gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs,
      Blown up for Raquel Welch.
      But when I end up in the hay it's only hay, Hey Hey.

      I might jump an open drawbridge,
      Or Tarzan from a vine.
      'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine.

    11. Re:I'm not seeing the story by sharkey · · Score: 1

      Was it a famous company?

      "Infamous" would probably be a better adjective.

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
    12. Re:I'm not seeing the story by DavidHumus · · Score: 1

      Evidently you are unfamiliar with the customs of my country.

      Here, when wealthy CEOs steal hundreds of millions of dollars from their shareholders, we traditionally reward their perspicacity and daring with media adulation, book contracts, speaking engagements, and the like.

      So, for Mr. Kumar to get a jail sentence is unusual though, whether it marks the start of a new trend or a blip in the old trend, remains to be seen.

  4. Anyone feel like posting a link to the backstory? by Mr.+Jaggers · · Score: 1

    Pretty please?

    With gigs of flash on top??

    --

    When I grow up, I want to have Christopher Walken hair.
  5. I guess... by fohat · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's not going to make it to the White Castle after all...

    --
    Is there heaven? Is there Hell? Is that a Tuna Melt I smell?-Primus
    1. Re:I guess... by Kuvter · · Score: 1

      Yeah he will, a little white castle they call prison.

      --
      "To be is to do." --Socrates
      "To do is to be." -- Aristotle
      "Do-Be-Do-Be-Do..." --Sinatra
    2. Re:I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoosh!

    3. Re:I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They've got "sliders" there too.

  6. WTF do you mean CA boss? by kennyt · · Score: 1

    CA boss? California? Organized crime? What? When 'CA' means C.A., something's wrong.

    1. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are obviously NOT a computer geek.

    2. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by atomicstrawberry · · Score: 1

      Computer Associates rebranded to simply 'CA' about a year ago. Since everyone was referring to them as C.A. anyway, they decided not to fight it. Also to subtly distance themselves from the subject of TFA.

    3. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by Kiaser+Wilhelm+II · · Score: 1

      I didn't know that the definition of being a geek had anything to do with brand name or trademark recognition.

      Not a good little consumer, am I?

      --
      Lord High Crapflooder The Right Honourable Vlad Craig Esther McDavenpherson III
      Destroyer of Mercatur.Net
    4. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by tibike77 · · Score: 1

      I don't know about you, but when I see somebody write "eyepod" or not know what "M$" means, that's a good sign of "fails the test of geekdom miserably".

      --
      By reading this signature you agree to not disagree with the post you just read.
    5. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by kennyt · · Score: 1

      Apparently we must be current with the most recent of meaningless corporate renaming schemes. I shall now forfeit my geek badge. Just tell me what proprietary editor I need to view the address for the credentials office.

    6. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by 10scjed · · Score: 1

      They are just CA now, not C.A. - Computer Associates, just CA.

      --
      --10scjed IANAL,AFAIK
    7. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by alienmole · · Score: 1
      Apparently we must be current with the most recent of meaningless corporate renaming schemes.
      What are you talking about? CA was called CA, informally if not formally, back before 1995 when I last had dealings with them. Hand that geek badge over!
    8. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      CA has been one of the dominant pains in the ass in the computer industry since before I was in the computer industry, and I have more than ten years of experience - which I realize pales before many of you. Regardless, not knowing who CA is, and/or not having a reason to hate them, disqualifies you from the ranks of computer geekdom. Face it, accept it, turn it in and go dig ditches for a living. kthx.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by Lost+Race · · Score: 1

      I've been a pretty hard-core computer nerd since 1980 and I have no idea who CA are or what they do. None of the products listed on their website look familiar. Perhaps they were once known by another name?

    10. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      CA used to stand for "Computer Associates". They have never really invented any software, they just buy old software packages that no one else wants to deal with and tries to milk them for a while, usually failing. The only good things they've ever been involved with have been their BASIC programming products (no, I'm not kidding, tons of people love them) and Ingres, although outside of legacy systems there is little reason for Ingres to exist today. I'd rather go with postgresql just because CA's not involved with it :P

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by Lost+Race · · Score: 1

      Ingres, that sounds kinda familiar. In fact my very first paying job was a contract back in 1985 to get Ingres compiled and running on a Vax. Somehow I've never managed to cross paths with CA directly, though I think a relative might work for a company that got pwned by them.

      Thanks for the heads-up; I'll make a note to grind my teeth and hate CA occasionally in order to maintain my nerd cred.

    12. Re:WTF do you mean CA boss? by Douglas+Goodall · · Score: 1

      Don't feel bad, I recently had to look up "fanboy" to make sure I wasn't one. I am not, thank goodness.

  7. Re:Anyone feel like posting a link to the backstor by moatra · · Score: 2, Informative

    When in doubt, head to Wikipedia

    --
    Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact or fact are transmission errors.
  8. CA = Computer Associates by subreality · · Score: 3, Informative

    CA = Computer Associates for those who are WTFing.

    1. Re:CA = Computer Associates by Nimey · · Score: 1

      Or Competitor Acquisitions, since that's what they did.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    2. Re:CA = Computer Associates by British · · Score: 1

      WTF = What the fuck, for those who didn't get the OTHER acronym.
      (we could play this game all day on Slashdot)

    3. Re:CA = Computer Associates by AusIV · · Score: 1
      Fuck = For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. (According to some)

      Have I left anything to continue the chain?

    4. Re:CA = Computer Associates by iamstretchypanda · · Score: 1

      While we are on this topic. WTF is AFAIK? I've seen it used a few times but simply ignored it.

    5. Re:CA = Computer Associates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All Fark Articles Irritate Khan, at least as far as i know

    6. Re:CA = Computer Associates by Frantactical+Fruke · · Score: 1

      AFAIK = As Far As I Know, FWIW, HTH.

      Steal a thousand dollars, it's your problem.
      Steal a million dollars and it's the bank's problem.

      With massive financial crime, the victims are usually so faceless that even judges have trouble seeing the pain it causes. When you defraud just one grandmother out of her life savings, they have no such problems, although it's basically the same thing.

  9. RIP republic, Hello fascism by Jelloman · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Here's an analogy to express my feelings on this: I'm drinking in a bar. Outside, people are walking the streets, beers in hand. I walk outside and the cops bust me for breaking the city's open container law, while hundreds of people mill around me with drinks. A little selective enforcement. Did I do something wrong?

    We have an overwhelming culture of corruption in this country, at the pinnacle of which are the directors and executives of major corporations. We let these guys get away with anything. SEC investigation is a joke. If Kumar was white, he would've walked. Instead, he gets thrown under the bus. Compared to the thievery and murder that the W mafia is carrying out in the name of the American people, overstating revenue is like jaywalking. Stealing from the ultrarich is what he's being punished for, but mostly it's just a token corporate prosecution.

    The whole thing disgusts me. Ken Lay's family is drinking champagne and eating caviar, probably with Ken himself (anyone who believes he's really dead is an idiot), bought with the money Enron stole from me, my fellow Californians, the taxpayers of America, their employees, and countless others.

    1. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by TheLink · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe the cops busted you for whatever it is you're drinking. ;)

      --
    2. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by tibike77 · · Score: 1

      Wait, does that mean that if you fill a baby bottle with heavy liquor and suck on it on the street it's ok with the cops ? :)

      --
      By reading this signature you agree to not disagree with the post you just read.
    3. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by flyingfsck · · Score: 1

      If Kumar was white? Jeez, the boss of Enron was non-white? The boss of Tyco was non-white? Martha Stewart is non-white? Comeon, you should be able to rouse a better argument than the race card.

      --
      Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
    4. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by rts008 · · Score: 1

      Only if you're wearing nothing but a diaper.

      --
      Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
    5. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by jcr · · Score: 1

      anyone who believes he's really dead is an idiot

      He's dead, and so is Elvis. Get over it. If you want your pound of flesh, get it from the auditors.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    6. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 1
      The whole thing disgusts me. Ken Lay's family is drinking champagne and eating caviar, probably with Ken himself (anyone who believes he's really dead is an idiot),...
      I want you to read the sentance you just wrote again, then think again about Mr Lay's unfortunate death.

      Qui Bono?
      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    7. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I did that once, in Berkeley.

    8. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by tehcyder · · Score: 1
      If Kumar was white, he would've walked.
      I'm guessing this is why the parent was modded as flamebait, as it goes against the current slashdot groupthink that there is no longer any such thing as racism in the US, except of course for non-whites towards whites...
      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    9. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by Some+Pig! · · Score: 1

      anyone who believes he's really dead is an idiot

      Ken Lay still alive? This is a tremendous scoop, enough to make a journalist's career. What is your evidence?

    10. Re:RIP republic, Hello fascism by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      I'm guessing this is why the parent was modded as flamebait, as it goes against the current slashdot groupthink that there is no longer any such thing as racism in the US, except of course for non-whites towards whites...

      It's modded as flamebait because this is the only nonwhite CEO that's been busted for majorly bullshit activities like this in a long time. Read around this thread, you can see numerous examples of people being busted for the same kind of stuff and they're all white.

      If it had been said more delicately and there had been more justification for this belief then it probably would not have happened, but so many people have played the race card when it just wasn't what was going on that we are all skeptical when it comes up now. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof; ordinary claims require ordinary proof, and we don't even have that.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  10. Pedantry follows... by Torodung · · Score: 1

    Just a minor comment on the article wording. Kumar did, in fact, "[face] life in prison." He just didn't receive it. As a writer, I'm dismayed by this error. I know what you meant, but the article is technically inaccurate.

    Feel free to mod this into oblivion. ;^)

    --
    Toro

    1. Re:Pedantry follows... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I disagree, because the phrase "he faces life in prison" could have either of two meanings: 1) the sentencing has not yet occurred, and life in prison is a possibility; or 2) the sentencing of life in prison already has been rendered. Either is idiomatically acceptable, so the reader must infer the correct interpretation from context. The author had the second interpretation in mind in this case, so to adapt that to the circumstances he modified it to "Kumar could have faced life in prison."

    2. Re:Pedantry follows... by Torodung · · Score: 1

      That the sentence has two meanings supports my arguments, especially after the qualifier "Under Federal sentencing guidelines," which specifically implies that the context is the *guidelines*, and not *reality*, as the second definition requires. The ambiguity makes the statement inaccurate, because the misinterpretation is *suggested* by the conditional phrase. Take it up with George Lakoff if you don't believe me.

      And the phrase "could have," which you claim is clarification, is what muddies the meaning of the sentence in the first place! If he had simply said, "Under Federal sentencing guidelines, Kumar faced life in prison but the judge called that punishment 'unreasonable,'" the reader couldn't reasonably misinterpret, and it would also say *exactly* what we agree was intended.

      If I were his editor, I would have deled "could have," and smacked the writer on the nose with a rolled up magazine if he handed it back with a stet mark.

      --
      Toro

  11. I'm not seeing how... by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1

    ...putting a worthless sack of shit in prison for the rest of his life, where he can't continue to fuck people over is a bad thing...

    Although letting some of his former employees get 20 unsupervised minutes alone with him would serve the same purpose... even better, when they're done with him, we wouldn't have to spend tax dollars to feed him.

    --
    "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
  12. "CA"? Show some goddamn courtesy by Ignorant+Aardvark · · Score: 1

    I shouldn't have to click through a link to find out what an acronym means, especially because it's the only acronym used in the writeup. For the love of god, just because this is a nerd website does not automatically mean that everyone already knows that CA apparently stands for "Computer Associates".

  13. Re:"CA"? Show some goddamn courtesy by seifried · · Score: 1

    They have TV commercials, print ads, etc. Not completely unreasonable to except a tech related web site might assume people know who "IBM" or "MS" or "CA" is. Personally I would have spelled the entire name unless space was an issue (rarely on a website).

  14. ouch.. long time! by derf1331 · · Score: 1

    In Canada... a rapist gets 6 years and gets out after 3... In the US... you fraud... you get 12 years ... and you do 12 years... Don't fraud in the US!

    1. Re:ouch.. long time! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But continue to rape in canada! Seriously dude wtf kind of analogy is that?

  15. Re:"CA"? Show some goddamn courtesy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can't call yourself a geek if you don't know CA stood for Computer Associates. Heck stop reading Slashdot, you're not worthy :)

  16. Breaking: Transcript of CA Exec phone call Nov 1st by ShaunC · · Score: 2, Funny

    Kumar's phone. Kumar speaking.

    Hey, what's up? It's me. What are you doing?

    Nothing important. I can talk. What's going on?

    Listen, I can't party tonight, okay? I gotta stay late at the prosecutor's office.

    Dude, fuck that shit. We had plans.

    I know, but I got a lot of work to do drawing up your sentence for securities fraud.

    When has getting high ever prevented you from doing your work?

    Jesus!

    I got a quarter of the finest herb in New York City. I'm not smoking that shit alone, okay? So you need to just chill the fuck out and prepare to get blazed, because in the next couple of hours, I expect both of us to be blitzed out of our skulls, got it?

    All right, I got it.

    I'll talk to you later, some guy with handcuffs is at the door.

    --
    Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
  17. Bullshit by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1
    If Kumar was white, he would've walked. Instead, he gets thrown under the bus.

    WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers isn't white? Ken Lay (Take off your tin foil hat, he's dead.) et al are not white? Former Tyoc CFO Mark Swartz isn't white? He's doing 8 and a half. Going way, way back, Robert Vesco is sort of white-ish. Terrence D. Chalk of CEO of Compulinx (see the Slashdot story yesterday) is white... Read the papers, and listen to the evening news, lot's of white guys are going to jail.

    Ken Lay's family is drinking champagne and eating caviar, probably with Ken himself (anyone who believes he's really dead is an idiot)

    Are you for real?

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  18. Re:"CA"? Show some goddamn courtesy by Ignorant+Aardvark · · Score: 1

    IBM and CA aren't even in the same league. As for MS, I'm assuming that means Microsoft, but that's a rather uncommon abbreviation ... generally Microsoft just isn't abbreviated, or if it is, they use the stock ticker, which is MSFT.

  19. Re:"CA"? Show some goddamn courtesy by Xuranova · · Score: 1

    I guess I'm in the minority then because I've been on this site for a looong itme and CA is the first acronym that I had no idea what it meant. Kept thinking "wtf is with a California boss". :(

    --
    "There is no real right or wrong, just what the majority accepts at the time."
  20. Re:"CA"? Show some goddamn courtesy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >CA apparently stands for "Computer Associates".

    No their name is now CA. It used to be Computer Associates, but the "brilliant" new CEO John Swainson and his "brilliant" marketing people decided to change the name of the company. Hence hundreds of thousands of dollars later the "brilliant" team came up with "CA".

    For the record JOhn Swainson was hired away from IBM and so are most of his buddies he brought to CA in the last two years.

  21. Cow-mercialism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    American Corporation: You have two cows. You sell one to a subsidiary company and lease it back to yourself so you can declare it as a tax loss. Your bosses give you a huge bonus. You inject the cows with drugs and they produce four times the normal amount of milk. Your bosses give you a huge bonus. When the drugs cause one of the cows to drop dead you announce to the press that you have down-sized, reducing expenses by 50 percent. The company stock goes up and your bosses give you a huge bonus. You lay off all your workers and move your production facilities to Mexico. You get a huge bonus. You contribute some of your profit to the President's re-election campaign. The President announces tax cuts for corporations in order to stimulate the economy.

  22. Bush has cleaned up Clinton's mess by ccmay · · Score: 0, Troll
    We let these guys get away with anything.

    That may have been true during good-time Billy's eight-year frat party, but since the adults took over in 2001, plenty of crooked executives have been put in prison by the Bush Administration. That's right, rich white con men are now serving hard time, thanks to George Bush's Justice Department.

    Jeff Skilling got sentenced to 24 years in a pound-me-in-the-ass Federal prison, just last week. No possibility of parole.

    Bernie Ebbers got a sentence for 25 years last summer.

    Andrew Fastow? 10 years.

    Dennis Kozlowski? 8 to 25 years.

    John Rigas? 15 years.

    Samuel Waksal? Seven years.

    Jack Abramoff? Almost six years.

    Too many people in this country get their news from Michael Moore films. Try reading the paper once in a while.

    -ccm

    --
    Too much Law; not enough Order.
    1. Re:Bush has cleaned up Clinton's mess by Danse · · Score: 1
      That may have been true during good-time Billy's eight-year frat party, but since the adults took over in 2001, plenty of crooked executives have been put in prison by the Bush Administration. That's right, rich white con men are now serving hard time, thanks to George Bush's Justice Department.

      Yeah, it's a troll, but it's a decent troll, so I'm gonna respond anyway. Aside from the fact that using the term "frat party" in association with Clinton rather than Bush is the height of irony, you also act like it was actually something that Bush just did all on his own. Sorry, but that's just stupid. If something like Enron had happened when Clinton was in office, he and the Congress would have had to take action as well. It simply wasn't something that could be ignored. We could debate all day whether they would have done more or less than Bush, or whether their solutions would have been better or worse, but that's just speculation. When corruption gets that blatant and causes so much financial ruin, and makes headlines for months, the politicians have to get off their asses and do something if they don't want to go down too. That's all that happened. Nothing unusual. Nothing special. Nothing worthy of praise. Just a lot of ass-covering. The usual.
      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    2. Re:Bush has cleaned up Clinton's mess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, any time you want to talk about cleaning up messes, just let us know what went on in Cheney's energy talks with Enron just months before Enron fell.

      Until then, Enron might as well have been planned by the administration for the exact purpose of looking "tough" on corporate crime after letting microsoft walk.

    3. Re:Bush has cleaned up Clinton's mess by ccmay · · Score: 1
      If something like Enron had happened when Clinton was in office

      Look here, dingleberry, Enron DID commit its crimes while Clinton was in office, same as Worldcom, same as Tyco, etc. That was my point. Don't forget that Bush didn't take office until January 2001, by which time Enron had been a criminal enterprise for five full years.

      Bush's Justice Department cleaned up the mess, beginning less than a year after he took office. He did in a matter of months what Clinton neglected to do for five years. How saying this can be called a troll is beyond me; it's a matter of public record.

      -ccm

      --
      Too much Law; not enough Order.
    4. Re:Bush has cleaned up Clinton's mess by Danse · · Score: 1
      Look here, dingleberry, Enron DID commit its crimes while Clinton was in office, same as Worldcom, same as Tyco, etc. That was my point. Don't forget that Bush didn't take office until January 2001, by which time Enron had been a criminal enterprise for five full years.

      So what? If their crimes hadn't come to light, then how was anyone supposed to do anything? Bush didn't do a damn thing to speed up the process of Enron's downfall. If anything, Lay's friends in his administration may have helped them to get away with it longer. None of that is proveable, but the point is that you act like Bush swept into office and started enacting reforms that took down Enron. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Bush and the DOJ reacted AFTER Enron imploded. He didn't do a damn thing until then, so quit implying that he's somehow the good guy and Clinton is the bad guy. Neither one would have done anything if the scandals hadn't collapsed of their own accord. If so many people's financial lives hadn't been destroyed by these scandals, then we probably wouldn't have seen much reaction at all.
      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    5. Re:Bush has cleaned up Clinton's mess by ccmay · · Score: 1
      quit implying that he's somehow the good guy and Clinton is the bad guy.

      My broader point is that Bush is routinely blamed by the Left for things that took place before he became President. Hell, I've even seen Bush blamed for corporate monkeyshines that took place in the early 90's, before he held any public office at all.

      It's not just that Bush had Enron blow up in his face almost immediately after his inauguration, and then was pilloried by the Democrats for not doing anything sooner about corporate greed, when Clinton's crew had eight years to do something about it and did zip. No, he was also blamed loudly and repeatedly for a recession that was already under way in 2000, and was only reinforced by 9/11. Remember the way Kerry hammered him for all the jobs lost in the recession? A recession that started under Clinton? Now that the recovery is well under way and more than 6 million jobs have been gained thanks to Bush policies (especially on taxes), the media circus has moved on and it's no longer news.

      It pisses me off, and I refuse to let half-baked perceptions manufactured by a biased media trump reality. Bush has performed admirably, under circumstances far more difficult than anything party boy Clinton ever faced. Like Truman, he will be regarded far more highly by history than by the lazy, selfish, ill-informed chattering classes of his own times.

      -ccm

      --
      Too much Law; not enough Order.
    6. Re:Bush has cleaned up Clinton's mess by Danse · · Score: 1
      It's not just that Bush had Enron blow up in his face almost immediately after his inauguration, and then was pilloried by the Democrats for not doing anything sooner about corporate greed, when Clinton's crew had eight years to do something about it and did zip.

      It's one thing to say that Bush wasn't to blame for the scandals; that much I can go with. It's quite another thing to then turn and blame Clinton for them. It was no more his fault than Bush's. He didn't act for the same reason that Bush didn't act before the scandals broke. Neither of them knew that there was any real problem, and so neither had a reason to act before the information became public and suddenly there was good reason to start investigating. And if you want to get right down to it, the policies that allowed such fraud to go on for so long without being detected were put in place long before Clinton was in office too. So no, I don't think you can blame either one of them for not detecting the problem before anyone else did.

      Remember the way Kerry hammered him for all the jobs lost in the recession? A recession that started under Clinton? Now that the recovery is well under way and more than 6 million jobs have been gained thanks to Bush policies (especially on taxes), the media circus has moved on and it's no longer news.

      Come on. We all know that politics are ugly. The Republicans use the exact same tactics, so it's not like they have some moral high ground here. Both sides always try to blame the other for damn near everything. Both sides lie, cheat and steal. If you believe otherwise, you're just deluding yourself.

      That's the real problem with politics today. Everyone seems so eager to latch onto one side or the other and try to defend their side regardless of what they do. They delude themselves into believing that their side is somehow morally superior despite all of the hypocrisy and screwups. Want to know what pisses me off? People who won't face reality and realize that there are stupid, greedy, corrupt, immoral assholes on both sides of the aisle.
      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  23. In Other News... by christoofar · · Score: 1

    CA is still a crappy consulting headshop to work for, and they still mooch a lot of business for supporting mainframe tools for shops who are still using z/OS on their mainframes and haven't completely converted over to Linux on their s/390 hardware yet.

  24. Re:"CA"? Show some goddamn courtesy by iamstretchypanda · · Score: 1

    As for MS, I'm assuming that means Microsoft, but that's a rather uncommon abbreviation

    ::sigh::

  25. Re:"CA"? Show some goddamn courtesy by jjp5421 · · Score: 2, Informative

    CA is the name of this software company. It was known as Computer Associates, Intl. about a year ago.

  26. He should have gone to prison for Arcserve. by dilweed · · Score: 1

    Worst backup solution ever.

    1. Re:He should have gone to prison for Arcserve. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      amen to that , i just spent 3 days with the fskin thing finding out why it refused to do backups, what a piece of shite

    2. Re:He should have gone to prison for Arcserve. by Lxy · · Score: 1

      Arcserve was a nice piece of software. I think you're referring to BRIGHTSTOR, the bleeding pile of crap that used to be known as Arcserve.

      --

      There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
      :wq
  27. Re:"CA"? Show some goddamn courtesy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I shouldn't have to click through a link to find out what an acronym means, especially because it's the only acronym used in the writeup. For the love of god, just because this is a nerd website does not automatically mean that everyone already knows that CA apparently stands for "Computer Associates".
    No, you shouldn't have to click through a link to find out what "CA" means, given the context you were provided. That fact that you did proves that you're dumber than a stump.
  28. A few things you should know about Sanjay Kumar... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I am posting this as "Anonymous", for reasons that will soon be obvious.

    Several things, then:
    1. Sanjay Kumar personal fortune was estimated, a little while ago, at: US$ 270 million.
    2. He organized fraud to the tune of US$ 2 billion.
    3. He -- like many other high-ranking executives of Computer Associates -- is a member of Scientology, a fact that has been kept under wraps due to the high number of sensitive contracts CA has with the US government. Please note that I say as a (former) insider.


    Computer Associates is one of the worst -- if not THE worst -- company to work for. Period. My year and a half with them was a complete nightmare.

    As for Kumar, his tactics during the trial (erasing evidence from his hard drive, corrupting a key witness, etc) are classic Scientology. I bet he won't serve his 12 years in prison, and the $8mil fine is, frankly, a joke compared to the money he has got in the bank.
  29. Re:A few things you should know about Sanjay Kumar by jcr · · Score: 1

    Kumar is a clambot? Are you sure of that?

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  30. Re:A few things you should know about Sanjay Kumar by jcr · · Score: 1

    the $8mil fine is, frankly, a joke compared to the money he has got in the bank.

    Well, with a criminal conviction, you can expect investor lawsuits to leave him destitute. In the case of fraud, I doubt that he can even get the homestead exemption.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  31. What I don't get is by clickclickdrone · · Score: 1

    with this sort of deal they get told to turn up for prison in a few months time. Anyone else gets found guilty and slammed away. Executive crime OTOH seems to involve giving them plenty of time to get their affairs in order or simply disappear, as desired. TBH, If I was a very rich dude and had been given 8 years in jail, I'd be tempted to disappear.

    --
    I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
    1. Re:What I don't get is by jamesoutlaw · · Score: 1

      Actually, it usually takes several weeks for the Federal Prison System to figure out where to place inmates. When people are immediately placed behind bars after sentencing, they are usually placed in a temporary prison until the system identifies where they will be placed permanently. I guess with "non violent" criminals, they allow them to wait at home instead of in a temporary prison.

  32. What's the delay? by Marcion · · Score: 1

    >Mr. Kumar is expected to begin serving time in February 2007

    Its more sporting to give him four months to get to the mexico and then a plane to India. He is white-collar after all...

    1. Re:What's the delay? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a moron.

      In any case, he's from Sri Lanka.

    2. Re:What's the delay? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd go to Switzerland. No extradition treaty AFAIK.

    3. Re:What's the delay? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Plane to India???? Why??? He is not from India, he is from Sri Lanka. BTW, are you always a racist? If someone with a name like "Cohen" is caught, do you say, he will run away to Israel or is someone with a name like McMillan is caught, do you say he will run away to Britain??? Then why India?

  33. Re:A few things you should know about Sanjay Kumar by GomezAdams · · Score: 1

    A company I worked for was taken over by CA. The CA accounting office routinely screwed up the expense reports of the consultants. They are into my knickers for over $3,000 in unpaid expenses. I feel this was due to orders from the top, Chuck Wang and Sanjay Kumar. One of the standard topics of former CA consultants was how much they had been taken for. This routine works because CA, like all corporations, forces employees to take a credit card as a personal card and to pay expenses out of pocket if the expense report isn't paid. Another employer got me for over $10,000 because the 'computer lost the reports'. I finally got some of it because I racked down the hotel receipts and refiled the reports, some of them three times.

    --
    Too lazy to create a sig...
  34. What's the secret? by MarkByers · · Score: 1

    > I seem to get weekly modpoints.

    Do you meta-moderate? How often do you visit Slashdot per day? Please tell us your secret to unlimited mod points.

    --
    I'll probably be modded down for this...
  35. mod parent up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    thats so true!

  36. Re:A few things you should know about Sanjay Kumar by gamer4Life · · Score: 1

    Sorry, but it seems that there is no connection of Charles Wang having ever been involved:

    http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzwang304953267 oct30,0,5725636.story?coll=ny-business-print

    It appears that he and Kumar had differences in opinion, which led to Wang being drawn out of the company and a separation in their business relationships.

  37. Re:Sanjay destroyed for being a Indian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    India is one the most corrupt countries in the
    world.Corruption is a way of life.Its all pervasive
    from the street cop to the top politician.The
    moment you land on the airport it starts with the
    custom official.
            Any documentation can be generated in India
    for a price.Court cases take 10 ns of years to
    settle.
          In short an Indian at the top is more than likely
    to be a corrupt person.

  38. Because the wrong people got screwed by Geccie · · Score: 1

    Kumar got such a long sentence because the wrong people got screwed.

    In all likelihood, there were some very influential people that were aware of their shenanigans, but got blindsided by the downfall.

    These people expect prior notice so they can quietly withdraw their funds and leave the little guy to get the shaft. The game is carefully orchestrated and - if you don't play by the rules - you get 12 years in the pokey.

    The uber rich do not lose money on theirinvestments. If they do, heads roll!

    1. Re:Because the wrong people got screwed by joshsnow · · Score: 1

      These people expect prior notice so they can quietly withdraw their funds and leave the little guy to get the shaft. The game is carefully orchestrated and - if you don't play by the rules - you get 12 years in the pokey.

      So who were the other players in the enron game then? Did Lay and Skilling stand on Bushes toes, or was it Arnie who lost some jinglers?

  39. From "Good Omens" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAYS. I NEVER TOUCHED HIM.

    There are a lot of oddities with Ken's "death" that, even if you believe he really is dead, stinks worse tha\n his rotting corpse would. Maybe he was offed so that the family would get all the cash rather than it beintaken to pay for his crimes. Maybe he was offed by other powerful people so that it could be spun so that "this never happened". Maybe they just were incompetent and secretive.

    Or it could be he's buggered off to live off 5 Bn.

  40. 12 years is unreasonable? by JonToycrafter · · Score: 1

    "the judge called that punishment [life in prison] 'unreasonable.'"

    Clearly the judge has never installed ARCserve...

  41. Re:Sanjay destroyed for being a Indian by rujholla · · Score: 1

    India is the most corrupt place I have ever heard of. Conversations with indians that I work with amaze me every time with how corrupt it is there.

  42. Re:unlawful carnal knowledge by jahudabudy · · Score: 1

    I've also heard Fuck = Fornication Under Consent of the King, which is pretty much the opposite of the Van Halen version. I have no idea which is true (if either), and this is completely off-topic, but WTH :-)

    --
    ...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
  43. I guess the Apartment on Park St. was taken by dook43 · · Score: 1

    Or maybe Graham Wellington was able to pick it up?

    --
    This comment was randomly generated by a school of piranhas chewing on the PCB of a Microsoft Natural Keyboard.
  44. 12 years of 35-day months? please? by swschrad · · Score: 1

    because that was the heart of Sanjay's scam.

    and don't start the clock until a 35-day month is reached ;)

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
  45. Re:unlawful carnal knowledge by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Neither one is true, Fuck has been in the English language for centuries. "[Origin: 1495-1505; akin to MD fokken to thrust, copulate with, Sw dial. focka to copulate with, strike, push, fock penis]" (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fuck) It is not an acronym. Read your way down to the bottom of the link for the first known use of the word in print.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  46. Not Indian!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Take a chill pill guys, Sanjay Kumar is from Sri Lanka not India.. Curruption is everywhere, it s better to look in your own den before pointing to others...

  47. Re:Sanjay destroyed for being a Indian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sanjay is not Indian. He is from Sri Lanka.

  48. Sanjay is SRI LANKAN - and Lanka is not in India by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sanjay Kumar is Sri Lankan born, not Indian.

  49. Re:Sanjay destroyed for being a Indian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bad implication

  50. Re:Sanjay destroyed for being a Indian by Julia+Cameron · · Score: 1

    Yes, but Sanjay was in the US and CA was an American company. He should have acted like an American. American execs are never corrupt.

    Oh wait....

    --
    Julia Cameron
    Oich ù agus hiùraibh éile
  51. Re:unlawful carnal knowledge by jahudabudy · · Score: 1

    Thanks! I am now an educated fucker.

    I am also highly intrigued by the adjective form, fucky. I'm not familiar with this usage, but am interested in seeing how many times I can slip it into conversation this weekend.

    Grandma is in for a surprise.

    --
    ...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
  52. Re:Sanjay destroyed for being a Indian by alphakappa · · Score: 1

    Sanjay is from Sri Lanka.

    --
    "When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail." - Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
  53. Not always true by joshsnow · · Score: 1

    They provide maintenance services for dead product lines that have existing service and support contracts for their production systems

    Not true for 100% of their products. In 1993, when they acquired the Ingres DBMS system, it was second only to Oracle and was sold to them because the parent company, Ask, got into financial trouble over another product. However, on selling Ingres to CA, the perception immediately was "Ingres is dead" and so, within a year it was effectively dead. It was rebranded as CA-OpenIngres and quietly slipped out of sight. The dregs were released as open source just over 18 months ago, IIRC.

    1. Re:Not always true by msobkow · · Score: 1

      I'm rather familiar with Ingres 6.3 circa 1988-90.

      Sybase won, Ingres lost. Ingres was the better core, technically, but Sybase was marketted better.

      --
      I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
  54. Re:A few things you should know about Sanjay Kumar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Kumar is a clambot? Are you sure of that?


    Yes. And he is not the only one. This has been confirmed to me by a (former) CA VP and boss that I knew pretty well. As I have said, this is one of the dirty little secrets of CA. After this fraud scandal, don't expect the Sanjay Kumar/Scientology link to be out in the open.
  55. Other Players by Geccie · · Score: 1

    Who were the other players in the Enron game? Well if you recall, our congress critters made a stink for a little bit about an investigation, then it quietly went away. Why - they quickly found that members of both parties were a little too close to the flame. I recall Robert Rubin at Citibank in NY - Former Treasury secretary - sought to have the notification delayed a day or so. Citibank lost over 800 Million when Enron collapsed. It's not likely congress critters or even the president - no, the people that get you 25 years then kill you before you even get a chance to report to prison buy and sell congress critters with their pocket change. A good place to start would be the Forbes 400 list. The other place is mob entities (US, Russian, etc) that can suggest to judges and persecuters that they really should take a hard line - lest the news media find some interesting information / photos / etc.

    Yeah, I know - conspiracy theorist - I really need a more challenging career.