Hey Mr. Yocam:
biz.yahoo.com
Bingo!
I see a change and I like it!
First time that I can remember that Borland (of old) has put out a story of customer success. I have been clamoring for more of these kinds of releases (the earnings releases are too vague about the details of enterprise deals and 4 times a year is not often enough) and I hope this signals a change at your company.
I have seen other enterprise (esp. design automation) companies pound Yahoo et al with news (and rough dollar amounts if possible) of contracts won and other significant customer / product accomplishments.
They do this to reinforce the positive sentiment - in an industry such as software where competition is fierce it is crucial to keep the positive news coming. Winners shout, losers sulk.
Over time, people and stock-holders, in typical Pavlovian style, gradually change their expectations of the company from one of decay and moribundity to one of vibrance!.
Touche!
Shane.
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Text of Release:
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Monday May 11, 7:30 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Inprise Corporation
H&R Block Adopts Inprise Corporation's Technology for Key Tax
Preparation System
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Inprise Corporation (Nasdaq: BORL - news) today announced that
H&R Block, Tax Services, Inc. (NYSE: HRB - news), the largest tax preparation company in the United States, has
developed a new Windows-based tax preparation system using Inprise's award-winning Delphi and Borland C++ development
tools. The new system supports tax returns for the federal government and 45 states and supports electronic filing for federal
and all states in which tax returns can be electronically filed. The system was rolled out to more than 400 offices for use during
the 1997 tax season and will be deployed nationwide this month.
''Our tax preparers can do much more complex returns, more easily, with our new tax preparation package because of the
numerous enhancements that Delphi and Borland C++ made possible,'' said Neal Shaw, director of tax development at H&R
Block, Tax Services, Inc. ''The new system is fully object oriented, allowing us to add enhancements that simply were not
possible under the old DOS-based system. It displays all forms on screen exactly as they are printed and allows for
point-and-click navigation between forms.''
''We've rolled out the system to 400 offices this year and it was extremely successful -- the preparers loved it,'' said Judy
Keisling, vice president of operations systems at H&R Block, Tax Services, Inc. ''The new package provided a seamless
transition from the DOS system to Windows and its many features have enhanced tax preparation.''
According to Shaw, Delphi and Borland C++ enabled H&R Block to meet a rigorous delivery schedule and stay on budget.
''The technology helps us to be more competitive by providing our tax preparers with state-of-the-art tools.''
''H&R Block is one of the leading organizations in tax preparation and we are pleased they are using our tools to get their
projects done on time and on budget,'' said Zack Urlocker, vice president of marketing at Inprise Corporation. ''H&R Block
is a good example of a global company that is able to deliver more highly productive products faster-to-market with Inprise
technology.''
About Delphi and Borland C++
Delphi is a high-performance, high-productivity rapid application development tool for building scalable client/server and
distributed database applications. Delphi 3 includes easy one-step ActiveX control creation, new BusinessInsight for codeless
data analysis and decision support, and powerful new Internet capabilities for building and deploying advanced Web-enabled
applications. Borland C++ is Inprise's award-winning C++ development system for Windows programmers.
About H&R Block
H&R Block served more than 18 million taxpayers in nearly 10,000 offices in the United States, Canada and Australia in 1997.
It handled approximately one in every seven returns and 51 percent of all electronic returns filed with the Internet Revenue
Service last tax season. Founded in 1955, H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB - news) is a diversified company offering tax
preparation services and financial products and services through its subsidiaries. Block Financial Corporation develops and
provides Kiplinger TaxCut(R) software for personal computers. In addition, the company offers mortgage loans through its
own retail operations and through a network of 5,000 mortgage brokers nationwide. Quarterly results and other information
regarding H&R Block are available on the company's Web site at www.hrblock.com. H&R Block, with corporate
headquarters in Kansas City, has 4,640 company owned offices and 4,500 franchise offices in the United States with
approximately 72,000 seasonal and 1,200 full-time employees.
About Inprise Corporation
Inprise Corporation is a leading provider of software and services that simplify the complexity of enterprise application
development, deployment, and management. The company is distinguished for its award-winning Borland family of rapid
application development products and for proven scalable middleware. Inprise integrates these offerings with application
management products to provide customers with an end-to-end solution. Inprise customers include information technology
departments and independent software developers around the world. Founded in 1983, Inprise is headquartered in Scotts
Valley, California and has operations around the world. Inprise has more than 900 employees worldwide. For more
information on Inprise, customers can visit Inprise Online at inprise.com.
SOURCE: Inprise Corporation
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