MitchellÂ's latest novel, Team Player (Double Dragon Publishing, ISBN 1-55404-314-X),satirizes work in the computer industry through a fictitious company, ErectSoft INC. ItÂ's the largest software company in the world, he said.  But itÂ's never produceda single product or finished a single project. This discovery is made by the leadcharacter Malcolm Gray, who wonders one day why he canÂ't recall any of the projectsheÂ's worked ever going beyond the initial stages of project definition. He begins toask questions and soon realizes that the company has never actually done anythingbut start projects.Â
Gray goes to the companyÂ's website looking for answers, but finds no more thanmeaningless corporate garble.  ErectSoft INC has only one product and that productis a solution, the only solution youÂ'll ever need for your enterprise-wide businessapplications   said Mitchell.  It means nothing  absolutely nothing. But there arehundreds of websites on the Internet with wording not much different.Â
In Team Player, Mitchell gives the web address of his fictitious company:www.erectsoftinc.com.  I bought the domain name, he said,  and created a websitefor it  a site very similar to the one in the book  and I plan to use it as aportal to everything absurd and ridiculous about the IT industry.Â
Mitchell has plans to link his ErectSoft website to a forum where IT workers cangather to exchange stories about their absurd experiences in the industry.  To kickit off, he said,  IÂ'm sponsoring a contest  The ErectSoft INC Absurd IndustryContest.Â
The contest invites IT workers to submit stories describing their most absurdexperience in the industry, which will then be published in an ebook  when thecontent mass reaches the appropriate level of absurdity. Categories include absurdprojects, products, management decisions, companies, documentation and interfacedesign. The contest even allows entrants to invent their own categories. The tenmost absurd entries will receive autographed copies of MitchellÂ's novel.  AndthereÂ's no entry fee, said Mitchell.
 I plan to release an updated paperback version of the novel at lulu.com later thisyear, said Mitchell.  The book was originally published in Australia by JacobytePublishing in 2001 and some of the technologies could do with a little updating.ItÂ's the updated version that IÂ'll be giving out to the ten most absurd entries.Â
The URL for ErectSoft INC is www.erectsoftinc.com.  Just like in the book, saidMitchell.
About Biff MitchellBiff Mitchell is the author of the worldÂ's first laundromance, Heavy Load. Hissecond novel, The War Bug, is available in both ebook and paperback through DoubleDragon Publishing. He has two novellas, The Baton and Smoke Break, published asDollar Downloads by Echelon Press. Surfing in Catal Hyuk is his collection of mostlyabsurd short stories. You can visit Biff and find out more about is books atwww.biffmitchell.com.
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