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Technology Stocks : Y2K (Year 2000) Stocks: An Investment Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: baggo who wrote (10704)	4/4/1998 1:33:00 PM
From: Tech Master	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13949

Brice- >>> PTUS and VIAS have tanked; both were in bed with KEA; both have inferior tools. Is there a message here? <<< If these are the tool sets that KEA is using for remediation.... what do you think the message is? When they have trouble fixing all of their client's code.... what are they going to do? Tech Master P.S. I hear rumblings of poor quality code coming out of the "body shops"..... KEA included.....

To: baggo who wrote (10704)	4/4/1998 3:04:00 PM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Respond to of 13949

Brice, I think VIAS is known for having some of the highest quality tools on the market. PTUS' tools are supposed to be OK, just not very flexible. As for ZITL/MD, it's funny how people have the impression that they have good tools when the lose contract after contract. Recently MD's #1 salesman left to join ALYD. I think that speaks for itself. And, speaking of ALYD, they also stole several of PLAT's best sales guys a year ago. See a pattern? My contention is that the quality of the tools is not at all the issue. The issue is outsourcing versus do-it-yourself. Doing it in-house is a major logistical problem and unless you started months or even years ago it is unlikely you are either prescient or organized enough to be able to pull it off here in mid '98. In other words, you may think you can do it, but, according to Y2K project leaders, you inevitably run into all sorts of things you never anticipated. As for the "strong" surviving, I think you mean only the "intelligent". Tool companies need to be shifting their efforts toward the outsourcing side of things. For example, IMO, they should set up triage centers to handle code from companies who suddenly wake up and realize they are facing disaster unless they fix their Y2K problem immediately. They need to be proactive in their marketing instead of depending on their alliance partners to bring in the work. I do, however, think the PTUS' and VIAS' of the world will recover. After all, time is on their side. (gg) - Jeff

To: baggo who wrote (10704)	4/6/1998 11:34:00 AM
From: Greg M.	Respond to of 13949

Hi Brice, I remember you from the Amati thread--a story stock I was extremely bullish on. ZITL, however, is a story stock I could not be more bearish on. For whatever reasons, management has not kept its promises, and after 1 1/2 years of strenuous(?) effort, it has zero contracts (though its direct competitors raked in dozens); moreover, it lost its line of credit and is about to go bankrupt without new financing. I grant you, when AMTX ran out of money, there was a happy ending with the Texas Instruments buyout; ZITL (MD), however, will never be bought by a KEA or CA "white knight" (IMSO). ZITL is in a terrible bind. The best they can hope for is either highly dilutive re-financing, and/or a "glamorous" (and also dilutive) merger with MD; both might allow the company to operate for awhile, yet both practically guarantee slashed shareholder value. The other option is to declare bankruptcy and reorganize, and/or to sell off its interest in MD. Keep an eye on Jack King's shares, he is the only insider with any substantive interest. Good luck, Greg