Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : RATIONAL SOFTWARE- BUY OR HOLD -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Len White who wrote (2162)	2/13/1998 1:10:00 PM
From: ratlong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3115

OO Proliferation... I think integrated toolsets like the one being put together by RATL will help, but the bottom line is that OO is a fundamental shift in the way analysts, designers, developers, testers, documenters and managers all look at software development. People claim they do OO, but more often than not, it is a farse. I think mentoring, training and standardized processes must be present to get people up to speed in OO. I see Objectory as being a start in that direction, but it still does not address all issues. The majority of programmers are lost without mentoring, training and hand holding- products must start addressing this. Hans- your comment about manufacturing with blueprints is excellent- I love the analogy of the Japanese car makers shifting their manufacting processes to components SD West- In general, I feel extremely good about RATL coming out of SD West. Thomas- it is a standard tradeshow, but most of the big appdev companies are there- IBM, Sun, ORCL, SYBS, MSFT, PLAT, Select, etc. I thought Rational did an excellent job and I heard very strong reviews of Requisite Pro which seems to be a product on the cusp of breaking through. People were talking about it. A note of interest- RATL seems to be really trying to hire people. The airwaves are filled with ads run by RATL HR department and they had their own booth at the show. RATL had a partner pavilion similar to MSFT- they were the only two to have distinct pavilions. Maybe they are starting to focus on their partners alittle more effectively. There were events outside of the show for partner companies, which is a step in the right direction. It sure seemed from my vantage point that there were two companies above and beyond the others- MSFT and RATL. Banners, booth size, personnel, buzz- all in all, a strong showing by RATL. Rose 98 was announced but not released. No cause for concern, but may be a heads up. I heard over and over again, said with confidence, that the sales force has come together quite nicely- faster than people would expect. With the revs pushed out from last quarter, if the sentiments are true, our numbers shouldn't be at risk. Challenges from here forward? I still think RATL needs to find an effective model to sell enterprise stacks. Their new pricing model should quite the critics of the MSFT deal for visual modeler. With the market distribution they have generated from Visual Modeler, if they were smart enough, they provided an upgrade link to the rational website and now people are going to start by purchasing the professional or enterprise versions. Next comes SQA and Requisite and others- MSFT deal is looking better and better everyday. Should help expand their per client rev stream.