Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!lll-winken!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!hacgate!ashtate!dbase!awd From: awd@dbase.a-t.com (Alastair Dallas) Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: Ashton-Tate (was: Judge reverses ruling) Summary: Long rambling response (press 'n' now) Message-ID: <1991Apr29.204945.6346@dbase.a-t.com> Date: 29 Apr 91 20:49:45 GMT References: <73539@brunix.UUCP> <2333@abcom.ATT.COM> Organization: Ashton-Tate, Inc. Lines: 99 In article <2333@abcom.ATT.COM>, mdb@abcom.ATT.COM (3030 ) writes: > From article <73539@brunix.UUCP>, by pew@cs.brown.edu (Peter E. Wagner): > > It would be nice if you guys just admitted that Fox's software is FAR > > superior to yours, stopped marketing dBase, and endorsed Fox Software Yes, and it would be nice if AT&T would just admit that MCI was better, and Hertz would give in to Avis and so on. What planet are _you_ from? > I agree with Peter. A-T much like IBM has for years over charged for a > product that was weak and slow. When the competion started to heat up > A-T ran to the judicial system instead of the development labs. Is IBM bad? I certainly take no offense at being compared to one of the most successful enterprises of all time. As for weak and slow, these are comparative terms. Yes, our competition is faster all around than dBASE III PLUS. However, dBASE IV 1.1 wins some benchmarks and loses others. But even if we are slower, we're still the most full- featured by far and we are available on more platforms and in more languages than anybody. This is not "weak" on any scale I can imagine, and even though competitors like Paradox and Fox may have extremely ardent supporters in netland, let me remind those who are patient enough to read on that Ashton-Tate has sold more database management systems than anyone in the world. If you think "that was then," I'll remind you that we own 55% of the PC dbms software market now. I'm sorry we sued Fox--I wouldn't have done that, no matter how justified we are. As fate would have it, I had the same thing happen to me before I came to work at A-T. My struggling little software company attracted a guy who decided he could write software to my manual's spec better than I could. It's not fun when someone steals your intellectual property and just glides over that agonizing "what should I write?" phase of software development. If Fox had shown any originality at all with their first version, I wouldn't have been so upset. As it is, their more recent stuff shows me that they've been advised to be as different as possible but that they just can't muster much creativity. I plan to bury them with what I'm writing now--stay tuned to see if I'm right. But, as I said, suing Fox was the previous CEO's idea. The current CEO (who comes from IBM, by the way :-) has a much more enlightened attitude. My understanding is that the suit would have been settled long ago if it wasn't for the incredible arrogance of the Fox people. I wouldn't have sued them, but if they don't want to settle, I hope we nail 'em big time. In any case, I personally am spending all my time competing in the development labs as everyone seems to think we should. > When the leading mebers of the Xbase community tried to set standards > A-T refused to sit on the committe even though they were asked several > times to participate. Excuse my arrogance, but refering to the previously quoted market share, I feel justified in saying that Ashton-Tate is the leading member of the Xbase community and if we want to write a standard we'll just do it. The committee you're talking about consists of several individuals who (like me) have been riding Ashton-Tate's coattails for the last decade. dBASE IV is the dFacto standard. I'm not saying we're better than everyone, just that we happen to be leading this particular parade and I don't have much use for people who want to run around in front before they've earned that position in the market. > Consultants whom helped build them into the > company we know today were sued if part of their advertising included > Dbase compatibility. Not that I've ever heard of. Ashton-Tate can't sue someone quietly-- it gets big time press whenever we get backed into a corner enough to actually go to court. > A-T used to have a good product but like many in our industry, they > sat back and counted the money instead of paying attention to the > market. We can certainly agree on this point. I don't feel like I ever lost track of our customers, and I didn't see any arrogance from my fellow dBASE IV developers, but our last CEO and the marketing idiots he hired sure seemed to have blinders on. When we were making money, we attracted every high-priced leech in a suit. When we lost money one quarter, you should have seen them scramble. By the time the CEO got the boot, he'd already jettisoned most of his cronies. We've been rebuilding ever since. The new CEO has my full respect. Whenever he speaks to the employees, he always emphasizes how we're doing on being customer-oriented. We have letters posted in the lunch room from satisfied tech support callers--it's clear that you're doing a good job here if the customers are happy. That's not that hard to translate to product development; we know what to do and we're doing it. I'm sorry if we're not making everyone happy with us. I think some people gave up on us before change of CEOs, and I think others just want somebody to pick on. You can't please everyone, but you still have to try. /alastair/ -- |Disclaimer: I am speaking for myself, not as a spokesman for Ashton-Tate, |which does not monitor my outbursts here. I reserve all rights to my |opinions in terms of commercial endorsements.