Oh ya, K-Tel went public. If I recall correctly, back during the silly season (1999) there was an even sillier bubble-on-a-bubble thing with any company that mentioned the word 'Linux.' Well, K-Tell, not to miss an opportunity, issued a press release announcing the their web site ran on a linux platform. Stock quadrupled or something.
I'm far to lazy to actually dig up the links to substantiate the above, but it really did happen, more or less as I said.

I have fond memories of "using" a SGI machine:

Oracle was filming an internal video of some sort.

You know the type: Executive talking portenteously in foreground; busy technical types rabbiting away in background. They used our server room as a set. My job was to stand in front of a big purple video-server class machine and look intense and involved. I hit buttons, looked at an LED, pushed more buttons.

The only legacy of those times: Our build system still has a directory for IRIX binaries. It's been empty for years.

Ten years ago I was building mac based rendering farms that were equal to the power of one SGI system at one quarter of the price...can't imagine why they've been tanking.

no kidding.

aside from price issues, another reason they're losing ground is the fact that they often show up (brand new) inoperable, regardless of the price. you might think that a $400K computer like an Onyx3 would arrive working, but you're probably wrong. it has happened several times with me. or, take the new octane we received this week - they have these nifty little clamp devices to ensure the xio board is seated properly... except it came from the factory installed *backwards*.

I fail to see how paying $29 for a stock currently trading at $1.45 is a bargain, frame or no frame. Unless you are into severe nostalgia: I don't see how SGI can hang on, given this:
  http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/15/1050172572718.html