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 : BORL: Time to BUY! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Delbert W. Yocam who wrote (10338)	4/30/1998 12:01:00 AM
From: shane forbes	Respond to of 10836

Hey Mr. Yocam! RE: It got your attention!(Harsh - Great!) How about International Business Machines? Catchy, isn't it. --- Yes the name is harsh. But yes it did get my attention and best of all it has a "stick-to-itivness" - that is, a name that is hard to forget. Now as you imply if the name is well backed up with winning technology, then one day not so long into the future CIOs and CFOs will associate Inprise with a big time Winner. And so we shall hope. I think keeping the BORL name on the dev. tool side is a good idea since the prof. programmers (the hard core) guys don't see the old BORL as the weak company the CIOs perhaps saw the BORL of old (CIOs probably have long term and job security concerns - hence buy the only name MSFT - no one will fire them if MSFT fails. But if BORL had failed and the CIO had BORL as the basis of their development tools, then the CIO would have been shown the door.) ---- As to "International Business Machines" we now say IBM. The former is not as ungainly as Inprise BUT perhaps one day in the sameway that that moniker got shortened we will see people one day saying IP instead of Inprise Corporation. -- In the chip industry IP stands for Intellectual Property - the buzz word for organized intelligence, the buzz word for integrating cores quickly and adeptly in the chip business and producing outstanding results in a very short period of time - the buzz word for efficiency, time to market, quick turn-arounds; the buzz-word for symbolizing the new RADical quick development high ROI paradigm. (honest I am not making this up - IP is a big thing in the chip business - it actually represents the objects themselves not the tools - but details details...- big picture, the EFFECT is the same.) Think if IP were likewise associated with Inprise. It carries the right connotations for "Inprise Corporation" and one day we hope the same winning connotations in the minds of CIOs, CFOs and developers alike. (now I don't think anyone in software has made first dibs on IP - so you are set...) ---- And sure you guys have my support and a lot of my assets. I wish you well and thanks once again for dropping by. (so should the April 27, 1998 be Feb. 27, 1998???) IP IP IP IP IP... We will be On Top of the World baby! ---- Shane.

To: Delbert W. Yocam who wrote (10338)	4/30/1998 12:35:00 AM
From: Jack Frosch	Respond to of 10836

Del, As many have noted, the name change was a surprise and initial reactions vary. Almost everyone agrees, the success of Inprise will be determined by what products and services are offered, and how well they are embraced by the market. Those of us familiar with the Borland brand have always been impressed by the products. Many of us have been impressed with your performance during the turnaround and expect great things to come. You laid out a plan, are sticking to it, and have made progress against it. Given the change in focus from a tools company to an enterprise tools and services company, has your original objective of one major product release each quarter changed? Many senior IS managers rely on reports and recommendations by independent groups, such as Gartner, to define what tools are "Enterprise-grade." Recently, management at my client site eliminated a tool (PowerBuilder) from consideration as an "enterprise standard" solely based on one such critical report which dismissed it as a departmental-level tool. As you focus Inprise on the enterprise, what will be done to ensure Inprise tools and services are properly regarded - and categorized - by these influential analysts? Finally, will the Borland Developer's Conference be renamed the Inprise Developer's Conference? Will the middleware tracks be beefed up to include topics on the application server and its associated technologies? Thanks for visiting here. It's nice to see you out and about - and not in a Star Wars costume! Jack Frosch

To: Delbert W. Yocam who wrote (10338)	4/30/1998 1:58:00 AM
From: Neil Booth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10836

Hi Del, I was concerned at the size of the option grant that the board requested from shareholders recently. A grant of 5 million shares is an awfully large dilution for a company that previous to the acquisition had only 39m shares and now has 50m. It's about 5,500 shares per employee. It's also one of the highest grant to outstanding share ratios in the industry. If I were cynical, I would say it was an exercise in making staff costs look a lot lower than they really are. How do you account for the hidden cost to shareholders of such grants? Do you plan to counter such dilution by share buy-backs? Or just let it happen for the moment? I'm a bit worried about this, and have seen no convincing answers / justifications for such grants on this thread. Neil.

To: Delbert W. Yocam who wrote (10338)	4/30/1998 12:37:00 PM
From: Bipin Prasad	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10836

Hi Del, Is it too late to have a name contest from this forume? Rod likes InfoNet. I like NetPrise. If s/he gets most votes and gets selected as BORL's new company name, I'll transfer my ten BORL stocks. How about that? regards, InSook Prasad

To: Delbert W. Yocam who wrote (10338)	5/3/1998 11:29:00 AM
From: R. Martenson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10836

Vote NO, demand a finished product. Will this name change increase sales and profits? As a professional programmer my slant is specific and Inprise does absolutley nothing good for my inclination to buy a Borland development tool, other than confuse the professional development community. I still get confused as to whether Norton is a defunct company just selling off out dated tools or a real viable entity/product. When I hit the resellers for tools, the LAST product I look at is anything with the Norton name because there is 'doubt' as too the commitment to the product generated by the marketing confusing. Borland ( again 90% will get lost on the concept this will still be a valid name for a live and growing product family ) has an opportunity to leverage their great development tools in one clear and concise step. Put significant resources and marketing talent into documentation and training tools that at least match or exceed third party books and documentation. The limiting factor for developers today is time, not the added confusion of a corporate identity crisis. We have a hard enough time selling change in the tools sets to management, let alone trying to sell a tool set change along with an unknown entity like Inprise. If I can convince my management team that the tools are productive and it won't take me six months to find appropriate documentation to decipher the minds of Borland engineers, we could knock the competition of the map...and that would make Borland a star amoung the entire development community. If you fail to focus resources on developer sensitive issues ( i.e. how to effectively use the leverage advertised in your products in OLE, ActiveX, CORBA, JAVA integration, and effectivey demonstrated how to reduce the astronomical cost of developers time and training) and blind side the development community with 90% solutions and marketing hype, our jobs become at risk and our ability to support the company is diminished. The development community, in my opinion, was waiting for the LONG awaited superior documentation on how to use what is already there... but instead we have to wait for thirdy party books to explain why we should risk our reputations on a marketing ploy. And as a stock holder...I will vote against the name change. I want Borland to do what IBM, Apple, Northwest Airlines, Johnson and Johnson and a host of other world class corporations have done in tough times, do a better job and refine the product to what the customer demands, don't try to change the customer to what Borland want's. Borland IS the company...the product is the problem.

To: Delbert W. Yocam who wrote (10338)	5/4/1998 3:23:00 AM
From: shane forbes	Respond to of 10836

Mr. Yocam: How can we get some on those fine looking tasty Inprise cookies? Shane.

To: Delbert W. Yocam who wrote (10338)	5/4/1998 5:03:00 PM
From: Mark Bracey	Respond to of 10836

Del, The graphics on the BORL/INPR web page related to the release of JBuilder 2 are less than awe inspiring. Case in point: inprise.com There are many more in similar or worse condition. I know you've been busy, but an eye for detail is in order for such an important release, especially so close after the name change. Mark

To: Delbert W. Yocam who wrote (10338)	5/11/1998 8:25:00 AM
From: shane forbes	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10836

Hey Mr. Yocam: biz.yahoo.com Bingo! I see a change and I like it! First time that I can remember that Borland (of old) has put out a story of customer success. I have been clamoring for more of these kinds of releases (the earnings releases are too vague about the details of enterprise deals and 4 times a year is not often enough) and I hope this signals a change at your company. I have seen other enterprise (esp. design automation) companies pound Yahoo et al with news (and rough dollar amounts if possible) of contracts won and other significant customer / product accomplishments. They do this to reinforce the positive sentiment - in an industry such as software where competition is fierce it is crucial to keep the positive news coming. Winners shout, losers sulk. Over time, people and stock-holders, in typical Pavlovian style, gradually change their expectations of the company from one of decay and moribundity to one of vibrance!. Touche! Shane. ----- Text of Release: ----- Monday May 11, 7:30 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Inprise Corporation H&R Block Adopts Inprise Corporation's Technology for Key Tax Preparation System SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Inprise Corporation (Nasdaq: BORL - news) today announced that H&R Block, Tax Services, Inc. (NYSE: HRB - news), the largest tax preparation company in the United States, has developed a new Windows-based tax preparation system using Inprise's award-winning Delphi and Borland C++ development tools. The new system supports tax returns for the federal government and 45 states and supports electronic filing for federal and all states in which tax returns can be electronically filed. The system was rolled out to more than 400 offices for use during the 1997 tax season and will be deployed nationwide this month. ''Our tax preparers can do much more complex returns, more easily, with our new tax preparation package because of the numerous enhancements that Delphi and Borland C++ made possible,'' said Neal Shaw, director of tax development at H&R Block, Tax Services, Inc. ''The new system is fully object oriented, allowing us to add enhancements that simply were not possible under the old DOS-based system. It displays all forms on screen exactly as they are printed and allows for point-and-click navigation between forms.'' ''We've rolled out the system to 400 offices this year and it was extremely successful -- the preparers loved it,'' said Judy Keisling, vice president of operations systems at H&R Block, Tax Services, Inc. ''The new package provided a seamless transition from the DOS system to Windows and its many features have enhanced tax preparation.'' According to Shaw, Delphi and Borland C++ enabled H&R Block to meet a rigorous delivery schedule and stay on budget. ''The technology helps us to be more competitive by providing our tax preparers with state-of-the-art tools.'' ''H&R Block is one of the leading organizations in tax preparation and we are pleased they are using our tools to get their projects done on time and on budget,'' said Zack Urlocker, vice president of marketing at Inprise Corporation. ''H&R Block is a good example of a global company that is able to deliver more highly productive products faster-to-market with Inprise technology.'' About Delphi and Borland C++ Delphi is a high-performance, high-productivity rapid application development tool for building scalable client/server and distributed database applications. Delphi 3 includes easy one-step ActiveX control creation, new BusinessInsight for codeless data analysis and decision support, and powerful new Internet capabilities for building and deploying advanced Web-enabled applications. Borland C++ is Inprise's award-winning C++ development system for Windows programmers. About H&R Block H&R Block served more than 18 million taxpayers in nearly 10,000 offices in the United States, Canada and Australia in 1997. It handled approximately one in every seven returns and 51 percent of all electronic returns filed with the Internet Revenue Service last tax season. Founded in 1955, H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB - news) is a diversified company offering tax preparation services and financial products and services through its subsidiaries. Block Financial Corporation develops and provides Kiplinger TaxCut(R) software for personal computers. In addition, the company offers mortgage loans through its own retail operations and through a network of 5,000 mortgage brokers nationwide. Quarterly results and other information regarding H&R Block are available on the company's Web site at www.hrblock.com. H&R Block, with corporate headquarters in Kansas City, has 4,640 company owned offices and 4,500 franchise offices in the United States with approximately 72,000 seasonal and 1,200 full-time employees. About Inprise Corporation Inprise Corporation is a leading provider of software and services that simplify the complexity of enterprise application development, deployment, and management. The company is distinguished for its award-winning Borland family of rapid application development products and for proven scalable middleware. Inprise integrates these offerings with application management products to provide customers with an end-to-end solution. Inprise customers include information technology departments and independent software developers around the world. Founded in 1983, Inprise is headquartered in Scotts Valley, California and has operations around the world. Inprise has more than 900 employees worldwide. For more information on Inprise, customers can visit Inprise Online at inprise.com. SOURCE: Inprise Corporation -----