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Technology Stocks : INPR - Inprise to Borland (BORL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TTOSBT who wrote (4161)	1/28/2000 6:02:00 PM
From: Big Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5102

TTOBST: You stated, "If as you say; " The great part about the Linux tools is that it is a scalable business model for Inprise/Borland," then why can't Inprise go ahead with an aggressive ad campaign with some of that $200mill? I bet that will capture more investor and analysts interests and attention." Dale address this marketing issue during his interview with Doc Searls: "Doc Searls: Today let's talk about what's going on with InterBase. Why did you go open source with it? Dale Fuller: Until now, InterBase hasn't been a core asset at Inprise--at least as a revenue source. In that area it's been small. But it has huge value in so many other ways. This is a world class, bulletproof, fully-tested application that just about everyone needs. So to gain momentum in the marketplace we decided to open source the product. Open source is a word of mouth market, and that's what InterBase needs. And InterBase is what the open source development community needs, too, because InterBase not only fills a huge hole for enterprises, but gives them a way to migrate in a serious way from one platform to another - especially to Linux. There is an explosion of demand for Linux and we can serve that demand by providing a free and open database product that is already proven and tested over the last fifteen years. Doc Searls: How big do you expect this to be? Dale Fuller: We expect it to be huge. We have a gigantic following today, by pure market share standards. But what you want with open source is something that serves the whole community, not just a nice piece of it. It's a different game, and one to which this is both timely and well-suited. Doc Searls: And the prospects were pretty bleak in the commercial marketplace. Dale Fuller: Exactly. Having a great product isn't enough. You need to spend big marketing dollars just to begin driving awareness. We don't have that kind of money, and we're not interested in playing that game any more. Doc Searls: Especially since word of mouth is free. Dale Fuller: Exactly. The Linux market is still young, and our timing is still early, and the mechanisms for growth are extremely powerful. There is a huge need for what InterBase has already been doing for a long time, and the word of mouth in the open source development community should be very strong, very fast. Doc Searls: And it will help pull through lots of other products. Dale Fuller: Yes. That includes the Delphi product for Linux, the J Builder products for Linux. These will all be optimized to work very tightly with InterBase." Message 12467890

To: TTOSBT who wrote (4161)	1/28/2000 6:09:00 PM
From: Big Dog	Respond to of 5102

TTOBST: You stated, "But IMO the write-downs (albeit one offs) have taken allot if not all that effect away from INPR. And without any explanation or breakdown from management speculations run wild i.e. their property cost etc" In its press release, INPR specifically stated: "During the fourth quarter, the Company recorded a restructuring charge of $34.8 million. The restructuring charge consists primarily of a write-down for the Company's Scotts Valley facility of $29.7 million; a $3.1 million charge for discontinuation of the Oracle ERP implementation in Europe; and a $3.0 million charge for severance costs associated with organizational changes implemented in the fourth quarter. These charges were offset, in part, by the reversal of restructuring charges totaling $4.1 million, that were taken in both the first quarters of 1999 and 1998, which will not be utilized." The company further elaborated: "Net income for fiscal year 1999 included a $100 million one-time licensing fee received from Microsoft and one-time charges of $50.0 million for restructuring, severance, compensation expenses related to InterBase, and the write-down of the Company's Scotts Valley facility." Message 12703011

To: TTOSBT who wrote (4161)	1/28/2000 6:18:00 PM
From: Big Dog	Respond to of 5102

TTOBST: You stated "Why can't Inprise be the COM in .COM? or the organization in .ORG etc etc etc. What are they talking about in those board meetings anyway? That's all I am saying here. Nothing is wrong with good products but be more aggressive about getting them on top and into today's investing minds." Again, in its press release, INPR specifically outlined: "Today's results indicate that we are making progress toward executing our plan to remain the number one independent provider of world class application development tools for all major platforms, including Linux, Solaris, and Windows,' said Dale Fuller, interim president and CEO of Inprise/Borland. ''Over the last quarter, we have moved our Linux, Internet Access Infrastructure and integration frameworks for Application Service Providers strategies forward and continued moving the Company towards operational profitability.' During the last quarter, in its push to become the leading provider of tools and applications for the Linux platform, Inprise/Borland delivered a free download of its Linux just-in-time (JIT) compiler to the Linux community on its Web site; released JBuilder Foundation, a version of JBuilder for the Linux, Solaris, and Windows platforms; announced its intention to open-source InterBase 6.0, which is currently in beta, the first commercial grade embedded database for multiple platforms in the first half of the year 2000; and announced VisiBroker for Linux, one of the first commercial grade Linux CORBA Object Request Brokers (ORB). The Company also shipped Inprise Application Server 4, the only application server currently in the marketplace to fully integrate both CORBA and Enterprise Java Beans technologies (EJB)." Message 12703011 So, as you see, INPR is heading towards the goals you're hoping for.