-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Reeves <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wednesday, 22 December 1999 01:15
Subject: The next step
>
>A brief recap:
>
>Last Friday several top managers of resigned from InterBase because they
finally
>accepted that they did not have the full (any?) support from Dale Fuller
the
>current managing director of Inprise. This is fact, not rumour. However, it
>should be read as a major vote of no confidence in the man who currently
runs
>Inprise.
>
>Subsequently, an unofficial announcement has been made that Inprise are
entirely
>discontinuing the InterBase product line, although they will honour
existing
>support agreements. A formal announcement is due, possibly on Thursday.
>
>Where we are now:
>
>This issue has hit the InterBase community particulary hard. However,
several
>points should be born in mind.
>
>o InterBase contributes about 7.5% of the company turnover.
> For some divisions of Inprise around the world the contribution
> is significantly higher.
>
>o InterBase is not one of the noddy development languages that
> Borland has dropped in the past. It is a good fifteen years
> old and is used by companies big and small, worldwide.
>
>o Aside from the immediate impact on Inprise sales there will be
> a major loss of credibility in Inprise. If they can kill InterBase,
> what else will they kill?
>
>o This issue is going to mark down the Inprise share price when
> it is made public. It is not a good business decision.
>
>
>The next step:
>
>Given that this issue affects more than just the future of InterBase I
believe
>there is only one thing we can do collectively. We need to contact the
members
>of the Inprise board. They are Dale Fuller's boss. David Intersimone et al
can't
>do anything. They are probably as worried about which way things are going
to
>break as the rest of us. There is a serious error of judgement over the
handling
>of InterBase that forces me to question the ability of the MD to run the
company
>effectively.
>
>There is a document available from the SEC that will have the board members
>listed. I don't know the SEC web-site and I don't know if it is available
>on-line, but hopefully together we can do something. Maybe someone in the
States
>who knows their way around US company law etc can help pull some names up.
There
>is also an Inprise stockholder who tried to sue Inprise a while back -
maybe he
>would like to know what is happening.
>
>And in the meantime, I have another trick up my sleeve. More on that,
later.
>
>Paul
>--
>
>Paul Reeves
>Fleet River Software
>
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