chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (07/31/87)
It was reported in the San Jose Mercury News today that Microsoft is buying
Forethought, Inc., a Sunnyvale based Mac software house. Forethought has
two well received products -- a slide/presentation graphics package and
FileMaker+, a database/report generator. Microsoft says that this will fill
a hole in their product line.
Forethought will be run as an independent subsidiary and will remain in
Sunnyvale. Most employees will be kept on board.
Editorial comments:
The hole that Microsoft is talking about is the long out of date and
forgotten "Microsoft File 1.0." Since I'm a happy user of Filemaker+,
(and an ex user of File) I don't think Microsoft could have bought a
better package in the low end database market. So I think this marriage
is good for Microsoft.
I also think it is good for Forethought. It'll (I would assume) give
them capital for development [hey! maybe they can fix the FM+
laserwriter 4.0 bug now!] and to put together new programs. My guess is
that the people on the wrong side of the "Most employees" are probably
things like shipping and accounting -- functions likely to be moved to
existing groups in Washington.
Problems: I don't see any major ones offhand -- Forethought seems to
have been profitable, their products were selling well and well received
by the market and the reviewers, and it looks to be a friendly
relationship.
chuq
Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ
We live and learn, but not the wiser grow -- John Pomfret (1667-1703)