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I set out to count them. When I got to Z, after a good half hour, I determined that CA had precisely 943 separate products. At the dinner I learned that CA lists only its most important products on the Web, and the real number is around 1,400. And that is a problem -- one of many problems I believe CA needs to overcome.

The biggest problem, at least for the top brass, has already been licked. Billionaire financier Sam Wyly's bid to take over the company was shot down last month by shareholders. With that difficulty out of the way, chairman Charles Wang and CEO Sanjay Kumar need to tackle a few other issues head on.

First, the company has to repair relationships with its customers. Confronting the past directly, admitting errors and becoming born again as a truly changed company is the only way to achieve this. It’s also the only way to get customers to care deeply about CA products, in the same way users care about Linux, the Mac and even the old Amiga.

Then CA needs to pick one technology area that it can totally own -- where it will have total mind share. Oracle has databases, IBM has mainframes and Microsoft has operating systems. CA needs to rule something, too, and use the notoriety gained by its dominance in that market to attack other markets.

With so many products, it’s difficult for the company to control one area -- never mind dominate it. It may be time for CA to whittle down its 1,400-strong product list to a more reasonable number. Even 943 is a bit too much for my taste.

First You Smelled It, Now You Can Touch It

A few years back, some clever developers figured out a way to make Web sites emit smells. As I recall, you attach a unit to your PC that contains various odors and the Web site sends down instructions on how to mix and release the appropriate scent.

Now researchers have invented a way to integrate touch, as well. Dubbed "haptics," the technology allows computers to feel when they are being touched and react accordingly. The reverse will be true also: Eventually, we will be able to feel things through our computers. Combine all this with a little video conferencing, and things could get pretty interesting.

Code Blue

The Code Red worm, which attacked Microsoft IIS software, caused an estimated $2.4 billion in damage. (Can't we just automatically deduct that amount from Bill Gates' checking account?) Now comes news of the Code Blue virus. And like Code Red, it attacks IIS. The similarities are probably not a coincidence -- many virus authors simply tweak and then rerelease old code.

A Hopeless Qwest for a Refund