• “Selling” MS-DOS to IBM without even owning it first;
• Convincing IBM to license/recommend MS-DOS - without IBM forcing them to sign a purchase option;
• Making their early PC compilers run only under MS-DOS – and not CPM/86 – and thus silently bringing developers to its camp;
• “Developing” OS/2 with IBM in a “make believe fashion” and thus preventing would be competitors from developing a MS-DOS clone from 1984 to 1988, a trivial thing to do; meanwhile, cashing big bucks for that simple piece of software;
• Developing Windows – the real winner - concurrently with OS/2 and miraculously not having Apple announcing a Mac OS for Intel PC;
• Betting on Windows applications, especially the ones that became Office while everybody was in a “wait and see” attitude.

Symantec is now trashing Vista security features: “Symantec sees an Achilles' heel in Vista”. http://news.com.com/Symantec+sees+an+Achilles+heel+in+Vista/2100-7355_3-6095119.html?tag=nefd.lede.

Until a couple of years ago, Symantec was the prime example of how a software company could play along Microsoft and not be crushed by it. Not anymore of course, now that Microsoft is a player in the security arena. Poor them.

Symantec and all the anti-virus vendors prey on other people’s problems – “the worse the better”. If there were no virus, what anti-virus people would sell? That’s the reason I think anti-virus people are part of the problem, not the solution.

But I digress. If Vista were such an insecure can of worms, they’d better shut up and be prepared to sell “solutions” when the “Vista problem” arises. But no, they can’t hold themselves. They have to “warn” the unsuspecting people. So I am forced to conclude that they are either (1) bad business people or (2) spreading misinformation:

1. They are attacking Microsoft just for the sake of it, even if that means loosing business.
2. They know that Vista will be more secure – as Microsoft is promising – and are trying to get people to stick to the more insecure XP so they can sell more of their products.
   

• Do some homework. It’s usually offensive to mistake the name of the capital city or a major landmark. A common one I hear in Brazil is somebody saying in the beginning of his/her presentation “Sorry that I don’t speak Spanish” – you can never recover from this. On the other hand people usually like that you know a little about the place and the language. For instance, people in Costa Rica like when you mention how many different natural environments they have in such a small country. A good starting point is the Economist City Guides at http://www.economist.com/cities/.
• Get to know your audience in terms of technical knowledge, balance of managers/techies, use of a specific product/technology and expectations. Assume nothing. Ask your local contacts and then the audience itself.
• Avoid politics or any topic that might be “politically incorrect”, even if they are part of your usual repertory of jokes or expressions. A local might be able to get away with such jokes, you might not. For instance a friend of mine usually tells gay jokes in his presentations. I suppose even gays in Brazil find them funny but I think the jokes might be offensive somewhere else or even in Brazil if presented by a foreigner. You may have to “sanitize” your speech. In Brazil I could say that something is a “final solution to a problem”. 90% of the people don’t get it but the 10% that do get it would think that I am smart. I am sure that this would not go down well at all in Germany or Israel.
• Try to speak slower, clearer with no slang or local (to you) expressions. Most people may not be fluent and/or be using a simultaneous translation. If simultaneous translation is being used, get to know the translators, their difficulties with pacing, technical terms etc.