Bye Bye, Bob!

What's Christmas without a Scrooge? We, the editors of Byte and Switch, decided to balance the scales of holiday cheer this year with a little "rightsizing."

Bluntly put: Bob the Beaver, mascot of this site, is out. Gone. Redundified. Kaput. Flamed. Afire. Kicked out on his little hirsute posterior.

Indeed, we actually slaughtered the little bugger for Christmas dinner.

Figure 7: Bob the Beaver, late of Byte and Switch

We're not asking forgiveness. In fact, we thought it was high time Bob moved on, especially given his last-column comments about Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD), Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), and other leading lights of the storage networking market (see Beaver Bait).There were more pressing reasons for showing Bob the oven door. He just didn't fit in around here.

He was too short. He chattered. He didn't shave. He had big teeth that stuck out. And he smelled bad -- we're talking foul. We had to tie him out in the courtyard when company came, where he crowded the editors of our parent publication, Light Reading. Worst of all, he ate wood!

Speaking of wood, let's be clear: This move should in no way reflect poorly on us. We see it as clearing the underbrush to allow the blossoming of our underlying assets. We see it as a minor adjustment in the silviculture of our company, letting us tap the nourishment hitherto obstructed by the byproducts of Bob's manic munching.

What's more, we're looking for a replacement. We're interviewing now. And that's where you come in.

Pick Bob's replacement and win a 'valuable' prize