David, thanks for the info. By no means I was tryng to be negative about PRGS. My livelihood depends on your company's success - I am a Progress enabled independent consultant. But, while the Q1 results are encouraging, I also know from prior experience that software companies historically have decent Q1 and better Q4. This I am told is due to new projects starting up at client companies in Q1, so some companies make product purchases in Q4 for Q1 projects or in Q1. Hence, software companies tend to book Q4 business and some of next year's Q1 business as Q4 numbers to make the year "on a strong note". This is nothing new. What remains to be seen is whether PRGS can sustain it in Q2 and Q3 when business historically slows down a bit. Also, I am worried sick AND thinking of retooling away from Progress, because the DB end of the business is cooked as far as the marketplace is concerned. There is practically no recorgnition of Progress database out there even compared with just a few years ago. The ever present "Progress Who?" question is much more powerfull these days when I try to sell my services. Companies tend to shy away unless you can do it for them with Oracle, Informix (vaporware), or SQL Server. Maybe you can't answer these questions, but I would like to try anyway (maybe you can get someone at PRGS to do it for you. And if the answers to these questions are substantial, do please post them on PEG, too. Here it goes: 1. "What is PRGS doing to catch up with Oracle and Informix database products?" 2. "Will PRGS marketing department ever get big enough budget to put the company on the software landscape again?" 3. "Will the common sense ever prevail and PRGS will realize that YOU CANNOT EXPECT YOUR AP PARTNERS DO YOUR MARKETING FOR YOU!!!" (Sorry for shouting).
I don't care if Joe A. keeps on boasting that PRGS is sitting on a pile of cash or they eked out some profits. The reality of it is that unless I personally see an upward growth and an increased market visibility, I will first sell my shares, and second will definitely retool into something that will pay my consulting rate (can someone tell me how to spell SAP?) and take care of my mortgage.
IF NOT CAN-FIND(More Progress Work) THEN QUIT.
(:0) |