I have sat on the sidelines and watched this thread for years, but enough is enough. Sam, I couldn't agree with you more: this is a company in turn-around.
The vitriolic condemnation of management, mainly for being lousy at investor relations, obfuscates the core issues. By my analysis, Inprise is succeeding at reinventing the company with its enterprise vision. They have been directed and single-minded in this goal and have taken some serious short-term hits as a result. They understand that the desktop business is history and are positioning the sales efforts toward the enterprise . . .and making some important, strategic wins. Everything I see about the source of the sales dollars is exactly in the right direction.
To me, Del said a few subtle, but important things in the conference call: 1) They are beefing up their Professional Services group. This is vital to continued enterprise success and could become a huge profit center. 2) They are partnering with other enterprise solution providers. . .a great way to leverage their sales efforts. 3) He stressed the enterprise versions Jbuilder and C++ Builder, but said little about Delphi. C++ and Java are what the developer community craves, not Pascal. 4) We, as investors, have to understand that the revenue stream from enterprise sales can, at times, be erratic . . .we'd better get used to some "lumpy" quarters.
Of course, as an investor, I too would love Inprise to be more cognizant of its shareholders' need for information. I hope they put some effort into this area (it does seem like their pr efforts are improving). Over many years I have had varying positions in Borland and now, Inprise, and am net ahead (way ahead) on the stock. I plan to hang in there longer. INPR did not totally crater today. . .below 7 for awhile, but above it at the close on less then average volume. . .the technicals held.
Ok, I'll be quite now for a few more years..
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