Re: Development

[Dorothy Day DAY@xxxxxxxx]

>>
>>Considering IBM's abrupt decision to close down its entire division
>>handling Signature and other products, I shudder to think what might
>>be the fate of Lotus products if that buyout occurs. Large
> >  FYI, Starwriter has nothing to do with Lotus -- it is the German wp that
>is outselling WordPerfect, MS-Word, and everything else in the very large
>and hot European markets. Available in OS/2, windoz, and DOS.
>  But, the Lotus buyout is also interesting. Wonder what they'll do with
>Ami-Pro?
>

Sorry, I was being too elliptical--the Lotus takeover looms larger
on this side of the Atlantic than Starwriter, whose importance I
was simply ignoring. IBM's track record for esteeming the
hardware side of the business, and the mainframe software side,
far above the desktop software market, does not lend confidence
about how they'll handle these new software ventures. Starwriter
could end up just another orphan like Signature.

As for Ami Pro, Lotus had already announce imminent release of
WordPro as the new version (guess Ami is just too cute, must have
the W* word). Who can guess where this will all go? The
Anti-trust division will still have words on the proposal, and
we all know how delighted Mitch Kapor's remaining crew must be
at the prospect.

Dorothy Day, Indiana University SLIS day@xxxxxxxx