Thanks in part to Richards, whose high tech career includes posts as IBM's national sales manager and president of computer reseller MicroAge's Channel Services division, Heidrick & Struggles has finally entered the Information Age.
"The way we see it, the Web devices business will be commoditized very quickly," said Rolf De Vegt, vice president of computer industry practice with Renaissance Business Strategy Group, a telecommunication consultancy in Boston.
Until last year her father worked in Fresh Meadows, Queens, as the president of Roan Computers, a computer consulting business that set up and maintained computer networks.
After we spoke, the piece was purchased by Barry Lam, president of Quanta Computer, the giant computer maker in Taiwan.
He was once president of Gateway computers.
Mr. Pesatori was president of Tandem Computers until it was acquired by Compaq in 1997.
Particularly popular gifts this year are flat-screen and flat-panel computer monitors, which are easier on the eyes, and health-related gadgets, said Sandy Berger, the online host of the Computers and Technology section of AARP's Web site and president of the Computer Living Corporation.
Richard Bergeron, president of a computer consulting company, has Lou Gehrig's disease.
"XP clearly violates European Union competition law," said Ed Black, president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association.
The article also misstated the year in which National Semiconductor appointed Mr. Kvamme as president of its computer division.
