Great interview with Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com over at News.com by Charles Cooper and Dan Farber: Benioff takes stock of software shifts

Here is an interesting snippet:

What are your thoughts on a slowdown or recession and what it means for the tech business?

Benioff: We haven't really had any technology companies report numbers or make statements that this was affecting them. Maybe we will see it at some point, but I don't know. You get where you read about it and you see it on CNN and, of course, the stock market has a 200-point bear selloff. I think that's why it's on everybody's mind. But so far, tech companies haven't reported that it's an issue.

Looks like a lot of fudge to me. Mr Benioff used to tell me that he could spot upturns and downturns in individual industry sectors and in the economy as a whole. That's because salespeople are the first to be let go and the first to be hired during any economic swing. He sees those numbers every day.