2003 Top Ten Memorable Quotes

When folks talk to Byte and Switch, they dont bother with platitudes, clichés, and marketspeak. [Ed. note: Actually, they do, but we just ignore all of the above.] They provide the straight dope, though we don't always quite understand what they mean. Neither do they, sometimes.

As we get ready to raise our glasses to another year gone by and drink to the new one, let's take a final, backward glance at the highlights of our "Quote of the Week" feature over the past year. Remember, none of these were uttered at holiday parties -- they just sound like they were.

No. 10: "Absolutely flippin' incredible." – Audrey Harman, manager of Sprint Corp.'s Computing Systems Technology Lab, about Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)'s multivendor switch demo.

We're still not sure she meant "good."

See: Users Cheer Interop DemosNo. 9: "We have not changed the form factor of enterprise drives for the past decade." – Gary Gentry, VP of strategic marketing and planning at Seagate Technology Inc.

Hey, it ain’t boasting if you can back it up.

See: Seagate to Shrink Drives

No. 8: "Everybody in this industry needs to shake off this obsession with performance." – Andrew McCarthy, Adaptec Inc. spokesman.

Isn't that line from Boogie Nights?See: TOE Vendors Flock to Microsoft

No. 7: "There are hundreds of zookeepers, and Joe [Tucci, CEO of EMC Corp.] and I are both hunters." – David Wright, chairman and CEO of Legato Systems Inc.

Actually, Tucci’s the hunter. Wright's looking out from his cage.

See: EMC Gobbles Legato

No. 6: "They kinda said, 'Tough noogies – you have to have same-day recovery.' " – John McKnight, director of corporate marketing at GiantLoop Network Inc.We'll bet they didn’t say "noogies."

See: Feds Set DR Regulations

No. 5: "It's doomed. It's dead. It's beginning to smell." – Bob Metcalfe, Ethernet inventor, on Fibre Channel.

Prophecy, or olfactory hallucination? You decide.

See: Metcalfe: FC 'Beginning to Smell'No. 4: "Storage is a little like the funeral business – it's going to be around forever and ever." – Frank Slootman, president and CEO of Data Domain Inc.

With help, it won't smell.

See: Data Domain Digs Up CEO

No. 3: "Data storage has been transformed from the frumpy wallflower of data communications into a stellar attraction." – Tom Clark, director of technical marketing, Nishan Systems Inc.

Credit to Queer Eye for the Storage Guy.See: Storage Networking Basics

No. 2: "With the exception of September 11, this was the largest disaster that SunGard has ever supported." – Judith Eckles, SunGard's senior director of marketing.

She’ll be getting a call from John Ashcroft.

See: DR Fans: Few Black Eyes From Blackout

No. 1: "I don't give a shit about 25 grand. You can't buy me for that. For 25 grand I won't sell my soul." – Steve Duplessie, founder of Enterprise Storage Group Inc.We'll bite. Do we hear 50 grand for one used soul?

See: ESG's Friends & Family Deals

— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch