EMC mulled a Pure Storage buyout amid patent sueball tennis Three months before EMC bought DSSD in May 2014, the storage goliath was thinking about buying Pure Storage. EMC even admitted in emails that its rival would always win out in head-to-head proof-of-concept de-dupe battles. This is according to internal emails disclosed during EMC's patent infringement lawsuit against Pure …
Disclosure - EMCer here (Chad, specifically).
While I'm sure we've all said things in email we wish we could retract, I think I need to hold myself to a higher standard - and I failed to live up to a personal principal of "never go negative".
Context is missing here from everything - and the circumstance that I recall at the time is that internally people were equating Vaughn and I, and while we are similar, we are also very different. We are different people, in very different roles. The one thing that has always been common is passion, and being very public personas.
We had just finished a joint event where we were on stage debating in Chicago, and people who were there are the best judge of the outcome of the debate. Also, people were debating whether we should continue to be on stage at the same time (at events like VMworld) - and I was beating my chest a little so people would let us continue to do public head-to-head debates.
That doesn't matter - Vaughn and I are friends, and in fact have both referred to each other as "frienemies" (friends who are on opposite sides of a debate/battle) for years, from his NetApp days, to Pure.
As a friend, I should have picked my words more wisely - internal or not, emotional or not.
I called him yesterday and apologized in person. Vaughn - I'm sorry.
The most important battlefield is the marketplace (where we are doing quite well), but even in the heat of battle - there can, and should be respect (even when there are very real questions about IP rights and ownership - though I leave that to people who are best equipped to judge - people with all the context and judges!)
In fairness, I think anyone can read your comments about Vaughn and see they were somewhat playful --at least that's the impression I get. Sort of like 2 basketball rivals talking trash.
And no one really believes the "never go negative" thing. Every time we hear you say "never go negative" it's like hearing the neighborhood gossip queen say, "I ain't one to gossip so you didn't hear this from me but..." Just lacks sincerity & authenticity.
Fun reading though...
Chad thinks he's much better than Vaughan (and everybody else in the universe). Vaughan thinks he's much better than Chad (and everybody else in the universe). This is not atypical for the sort of massive egotist that fills these kind of positions within companies like EMC and Pure.
After being caught out publicly, Chad apologizes - but obviously nobody believes it because Chad is a massive egotist.
Did something happen that wasn't utterly predictable?
Next.
Chad,
When I worked for your new parent company, we were trained never to write an email "that you wouldn't be ok with printed on the front page of the New York Times." When our companies were merely partners, your Documentum division came and touted their e-discovery services because, whenever a company gets sued, email gets subpoenaed immediately. You should know better.
- Anon
<When I worked for your new parent company, we were trained never to write an email "that you wouldn't be ok with printed on the front page of the New York Times." >
A company that followed that rule in technology would quickly go out of business. If you are hamstrung by political correctness, you die.
Honest, open dialogue from top to bottom has been a hallmark of what it means to have "EMC DNA". I don't see anything embarrassing in these emails at all. In fact, it should show anyone interested in Pure from a financial perspective that their early success had little to do with technology and more to do with large competitors taking a while to "turn the aircraft carriers into the wind".
The game is over.
This doesn't surprise me one bit. EMC is a Sales driven company and these emails completely show it. Push an inferior product with a superior sales force and you grow revenue and gain market share. Duh. It's great that these emails are coming out now because they're interesting but it's nothing we didn't already know.
At the end of the day this "flash war" isn't going to be won by a Sales company but by the better product.
I know Chad and Vaughn. I don't care who you are in life, if you can't admit, and most publicly here, you made a mistake...well, that's a you problem and it is no way to go through life.
Both are great human beings. They are like my brother and I. We love each other but don't agree on much.
Like my brother and I, they have a deep respect for each other but it is in our and their nature to never quit and never lose.
1) A storage array that won't exist for another year or more (FlashBlade)
2) A storage array that is in 'willful breach' of a competitors patent (//m)
3) 3 year old email illegally leaked from a court trial (Hey look! Shiny thing!!)
Nice attempt at distraction. Still, nothing wrong with EMC considering buying Pure - as long as they made the smart choice in the end and didn't!
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