RSA Conference & Expo (San Jose, CA)

[foxgrrl]

Oh yeah, I was also going to try to make it to the RSA Expo sometime next week; To collect some new pens, flashlights, and black t-shirts to use for the next year. (But really to spy on my company's competitors.) Also to tell the marketing and sales people in the booths, that the entire concept of their product is fundamentally flawed. And that they would have to completely redesign it from scratch, if what they were doing was even logically possible.

I had that conversation with quite a few companies at RSA Expo last year...

Me: "So, what is it exactly that your product does?"
Droid: "If the laptop is stolen, and a bad password entered X times. [Or it calls home too and stuff] It will automatically delete all of your sensitive files, so that the person who stole the laptop can't read them."
Me: "But what if the bad guy doesn't use your software?" [i.e. KNOPPIX]
Droid: "Uhh.. you'll have to talk to one of our engineers."

I got "Uhhh... You'll have to ask one of our engineers." from several of the companies I spoke to there. I was also the only person on the floor not wearing a suit. (Standard Black Hacker T-Shirt for me. I read that there is a dress code this year...)

http://2006.rsaconference.com/us/conference/faqs.aspx

Comments

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

You really shouldn't tell your competitors their product is broken and that they're going in the wrong direction. Let them waste time on a bad production path.

Wait until they get it to market, THEN point out all of the obvious gaping holes in it before it has a chance to get market share.

:)