Designers who worked for Compaq on its Merced programme are circulating their CVs as it becomes apparent there is nothing for them to do. Sources from inside Compaq told The Register: "It's not more or less bad stuff happening to Merced; it's nothing happening for Merced. It's like one big dress-up for a party that never happened." The source added: "You know that it's over when the Intel guys working on the Merced BIOS started peddling their wares as the EFI stuff at IDF, because they're tired of waiting around for the real Merced proto-boards." He said: "Intel has been promising Microsoft system protos, not chip samples, in June '99. March is over in a week. There is neither. Microsoft is in the last 100-yard dash of the W2K 4-miler. Beta 3 RC1 is now done. No time for new toys." At the same time, Intel is advertising for engineers to join the Merced team. Motherboard Design Engineer. Yesterday it circulated an advert for motherboard designers to join the company at its Portland, Oregon establishment. People are wanted "as soon as possible", the advert said. ®