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To: Joe Antol who wrote (3412)	11/1/1997 2:06:00 PM
From: Robert Lewis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9798

Lotus Hopes To Give Suite Jolt To Java Date: 11/3/97 Author: Lisa Wirthman Lotus Development Corp. on Monday starts its bid to become the heaviest hitter in the market for ''lightweight'' Java applications. The company is introducing eSuite. It's a grouping of software applications for office users that will run on devices that support Java. The applications are lightweight in that eSuite is geared to network computers. NCs are low-level PCs designed for networks, including the Internet. They get most of their power and data storage from servers. ESuite is slated to hit the market early next year. That will make Lotus the first big player to deliver major Java applications. Java is an Internet programming language designed to work on any computer platform. The firm is mostly targeting NCs that will use Java, as opposed to networks of personal computers. Its efforts will pit it against longtime rival Microsoft Corp. Microsoft's Windows operating system dominates the PC market. ''We're obviously looking for market leadership here,'' said Jeff Papows, president of Lotus, a subsidiary of International Business Machines Corp. Creating Java applications for the NC market ''gives us an opportunity to wrest back leadership from Microsoft and others,'' he said. ESuite does more than applications. It also provides its own desktop and user interface. This is something that has traditionally been provided by operating software such as Windows. Some analysts question whether Lotus is being too ambitious. Mary Wardley, an analyst at International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass., wonders whether Lotus ''is trying to become the Microsoft of Java.'' ''It concerns me that maybe they're getting a little de-focused over the whole user-interface thing,'' Wardley said. But eSuite's also a conventional product. It offers productivity applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, electronic mail and scheduling. Lotus has lined up high-profile backers for the product. They include Oracle Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., Netscape Communications Corp., America Online Inc., Novell Inc. and IBM. Like Lotus, all of the above compete with Microsoft. All would love to break the world's largest software firm's stranglehold on the market for operating- system software. They view Java as a way to do that. Still, Java and network computers remain an unproven market, cautions Wardley. ''There are a lot of hopes being tied to (network computers),''said Wardley. ''But so far there aren't many applications for the NC. It's pretty much uncharted territory.'' First To Market Lotus says that's why it wants the lead. ''We think we can rewrite the ground rules in the personal productivity market by seizing the first-to-market opportunity,'' said Papows. It's first only because another firm stumbled. Canada's Corel Corp. was the front-runner in the race to bring Java applications to market. But its test version of a Java suite, unveiled in August, flopped. Corel tried to develop a Java version atop existing product, and users found it too big and slow. ''Corel's mistake was that you really need to rethink what it is you need to do in this space,'' said analyst Amy Wohl, president of Wohl Associates in Narberth, Penn. ''We weren't surprised at what happened (to Corel),'' said Joseph Forgione, vice president of business development and planning for Lotus. ''We believe that applications should be fundamentally developed to run on a network as opposed to just trying to recreate them.'' Corel now is looking to deliver a new suite of pure Java applications next summer, and some single applications starting this winter, says a Corel spokeswoman. But Corel's failure lingers. ''It was a marketing problem for everyone involved in Java,'' Forgione admitted. Roily Java The Java camp has had other troubles. Sun and Microsoft are suing each other over the issue of whether there will be one flavor of Java. Also, a U.S. advisory group to an international standards organization voted against having Sun, Java's creator, remain its keeper. The full body is slated to vote sometime in November. ''All of that has no direct impact on what we're doing,'' said Forgione. ''We try to stay out of the religious wars.'' Applications for eSuite are hosted on servers and downloaded to clients. In fact, all users of PCs -including Windows PCs - can download the product from the Web with the most recent versions of Netscape's and Microsoft's browsers. Mostly marketed through resellers, eSuite's suggested price is $49 per seat, or user. Lotus says it used the ''80-20'' theory to develop eSuite. Company research showed that 80% of users only use 20% of the features in office suites, says Forgione. Since other suite products are geared to the PC marketplace, Lotus clearly needs Java to take off. Indeed, Wohl says people will be moving from old mainframe/terminal environments to NC networks. ''There are still 35 million to 40 million of those users,'' Wohl said. Target users also include the large number of people who are using outdated PCs for tasks such as word processing and e-mail. ''None of these people actually need PCs,'' Wohl said. ''Lotus has found itself in the fortunate position of having something a lot of people want and need.'' (C) Copyright 1997 Investors Business Daily, Inc. Metadata: MSFT IBM ORCL SUNW NSCP AOL NOVL COSFF I/8065 I/3573 I/1004 I/3572 I/7392 I/3574 E/IBD E/SN1 E/TECH

To: Joe Antol who wrote (3412)	11/1/1997 10:01:00 PM
From: Leo Mitkievicz	Respond to of 9798

<<OFF TOPIC Joe>> You are a trivia goldmine. I always wondered what happened. So they give it away now. Still laughing. I am flabbergasted at the way that company made its assets vanish into thin air. Leo