Re:Apple in talks with Be

CobraBoy (tbyars@earthlink.net)
Tue, 3 Sep 1996 12:59:24 -0700

:Apple Debate Rages Over Merits
:Of Closer Ties With Microsoft
:
:By LEE GOMES
:Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
:
:_Apple Computer_ Inc.'s takeover discussions with software maker Be
:Inc. are
:part of a larger strategic debate inside Apple over whether it
:should work
:more closely with _Microsoft_ Corp., several people close to Apple
:say.
:
:As previously reported, the Apple-Be talks are in the preliminary
:stages. A
:possible outcome includes anything from an outright purchase of Be,
:which
:might cost upward of $100 million, to Apple's licensing Be
:technology or,
:possibly, no deal at all.

This is interesting considering that Gass=E9 said he was ventured $14
mil. to get things going.

:
:But an Apple manager says the talks are connected to a major
:decision looming
:at Apple over what the Cupertino, Calif., computer concern should
:do with
:regard to Microsoft's Windows NT, the high-end operating system
:that is
:rapidly winning acceptance in the corporate world. Currently, Apple
:has only
:one operating system, and its replacement, known as Copland, is
:behind
:schedule.
:
:One group at Apple, including many people in sales, says the
:company's only
:hope may be to latch on to NT's growing popularity by licensing it
:and
:offering it on Apple machines -- something Apple has confirmed it is
:considering.
:
:But others, some of them in engineering, want Apple to push
:Internet-style
:intranet technology while offering many operating systems,
:including Apple's
:own, NT and others. It is in connection with this latter option
:that the talks
:with Be are being pursued, a person at Apple says. Proponents argue
:it is the
:only way Apple can avoid being forever "at the mercy" of Microsoft,
:as one
:official puts it.

Is there a difference here? Licence NT and offer everything else
under the Sun... or is that Solaris.. :-)
:
:A spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment. Be, a small, closely
:held
:company in Mountain View, Calif., couldn't be reached.
:
:Among many Macintosh users, word of the Apple-Be talks have created
:a
:sensation. "Everyone is talking about it; the possibility is so
:exciting,"
:said Ann Wrixon, executive director of the Berkeley (Calif.)
:Macintosh Users
:Group, one of the nation's most-active collection of Mac zealots,
:where
:membership has swollen to 10,000 from 7,000 in the last six months.

Interesting. This is the type of data that is encouraging to me.
(more details soon to follow)

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