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

To: David W. Taylor who wrote (10420)	5/3/1998 11:47:00 PM
From: Charles Hughes	Respond to of 10836

>>>What about the other goof? Mixing a consulting business with product development can be a very bad thing.<<< >>Then again there's Sterling, Oracle, IBM.<< Well that makes it OK then!<<< My point is: The most successful companies, defined as those in the end with the largest assets and profits if you discount social and ethical factors, are those who have the management and imagination to handle multiple product types. I grant that this is not easy to do. The blundersome mega-corps of the 50's and 60's provide easy counterexamples. But the advocates of 'focus' have gone overboard regarding this in respect to computer companies lately in several cases. Companies determined to focus only on a single line of business are generally limiting their upside - and the upside and stability of the stock. Microsoft, IBM, and others in the computer business have shown the synergy that several related lines can have in the computer business - so much so that they frequently end up being stopped by the anti-trust folks - after garnering some huge advantages and profits. Cheers, Chaz

To: David W. Taylor who wrote (10420)	5/4/1998 8:36:00 AM
From: Bipin Prasad	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10836

>>>What about the other goof? Mixing a consulting business with product development can be a very bad thing.<<< >>Then again there's Sterling, Oracle, IBM.<< Well that makes it OK then! Yes, it is because it is a winning strategy in any business, especially in software business. We need steady cash flow while new products are developed/bundled up. Otherwise there'll be too long cycle problems. This is the wisest double edge sword strategy. later, InSook Prasad