Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
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From: jordan@cruzio.com (Jordan Bortz)
Subject: Re: ParcPlace dumps OS/2, VSE, AND Jigsaw, and MAC!!!
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Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 22:54:53 GMT
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Eric Clayberg <clayberg@parcplace.com> wrote:

>Timothy Reaves wrote:

>> 1) ParcPlace has stoped all VSE development. No more will happen.

>...at PP-D. I believe that PP-D's official statement concerning VSE will
>also include something to the effect that the company is "investigating
>the possibility of third-party support/enhancement". That should serve
>to confirm several of the "other" rumors that have been spreading around

In other words, Eric, that shows that you have been LYING to us
considerably and with great vigor in denying the facts that, in fact,
VSE *will* be sold off to you!

I have to wonder about the Management team; how can they blow millions
buying Digitalk, millions in Cash to buy you, then abandon the product
lines?

Is Lyons etc on the Payroll of IBM or other competitors to PPD? If
not, I can't see how you could have more flawed execution if your
enemies wrote the business plan...nor can I see how management hasnt
been thrown out along with their terrible ideas.

It's sad to see my predictions over 5 years ago play out almost to a T
how I had scoped them out, and only now, as its too late, do you
realize how badly the cross platform and lack of vision thing has hurt
you.

I hope, given the dishonesty displayed by PP-D over the years, that
any customers will be extremely wary of what you have to offer, and
whether what is said can be even remotely trusted.

Jordan Bortz
President
Object Productions, INC

>concerning VSE. IMO, the net result should be *very* good news for the
>VSE community and the Smalltalk community at large. Hopefully, it won't
>take too long to shake out the details.

>> 2) Ditto Jigsaw. No longer is ParcPlace looking to integrate VSE and VW
>> into a unified product.

>Which is quite sad since the product was ready to go into beta. I think
>that the final conclusion (based on showing it to dozens of customers
>around the country) was that the Jigsaw product needed to have been
>delivered 2-3 years ago. Apparently, there was nothing in there that was
>very compelling to anyone (its "new" features have been a standard part
>of most other development tools for a very long time). 

>I should point out that PP-D is still going forward with the VisualWorks
>product line and plans to incorporate a number of the Jigsaw features
>into it (the new engine, OLE/DCOM, Win95 emulation, etc.). They also
>plan to add a lot of high-end distributed computing and server
>capabilities to it as well as the ability to easily mix in Java code.
>The industry analysts that have reviewed their revised product plans
>have been very positive about them.

>> 3) OS/2 and the Mac will no longer see new developments.

>I hadn't heard that, but I wouldn't be surprised. OS/2 and Mac combined
>represented less than 1% of PP-D's revenue. The company has been losing
>money on both for a very long time. Given PP-D's current fiscal
>situation, it has to focus on the platforms that generate positive
>revenue for the company.

>> ParcPlace has stated that VisualWave will never be ported to OS/2
>> or the Mac. 

>Hmmm. I thought VWave already was on the Mac. The decision on the OS/2
>port isn't surprising since they would have lost money on it.

>> They have further stated that their company's long term goal
>> is to make Distributed Wave their sole product. DW is to be a merger of
>> VWave and DST.

>Keep in mind that VWave and DST use VisualWorks as their core.
>Essentially, PP-D is moving forward with VisualWorks with the intent of
>adding lots of high-end distributed computing facilities to it.

>-Eric


