New mergers and alliances in the PC world?<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): John Naisbitt's latest book, Global Paradox, has
\ncertainly drawn a lot of attention all over the world. He sees
\nentities merging to create new, larger and stronger ones. At the
\nsame time, he also watches other entities breaking apart and new,
\nsmaller ones being created.<\/p>\n
In the world of personal computers, the same trends are
\nemerging. Just look at how Motorola, Apple and IBM have joined
\nforces in their attempt to remain world leaders.<\/p>\n
Only two years ago, when people were still debating whether
\nthey should be buying a PC or a Mac, the idea of seeing IBM in a
\njoint venture with Apple would have sounded as esoteric as living
\nwithout floods in Jakarta. But it has happened, and the fruit has
\nbeen borne, namely, the PowerPC!<\/p>\n
As in any other industry, strategic alliances and mergers are
\nno longer uncommon in the PC industry. In some cases, such as the
\nmerger between Novell and WordPerfect, such an alliance is badly
\nneeded. WPCorp seems to have been in deep financial trouble, and
\nNovell came to the rescue.<\/p>\n
Perhaps to counter the merger of these two giants -- one in
\nnetworking products and the other in word processor products,
\nLotus Development and AT&T have also struck a deal. Lotus Notes
\nwill be used in AT&T on-line communications network. This will
\nallow Notes users to publish and exchange information.<\/p>\n
Of course, I won't get worried as long as these mergers still
\nleave a couple of big players in the field. As long as
\ncompetition still runs, the end users will always be benefited.
\nHowever, when the two largest competing players decide to join
\nhands, we could find ourselves in trouble.<\/p>\n
Remember the time Borland International bought dBase IV from
\nthe troubled Ashton-Tate Corp.? Borland had promised dBase users
\nto keep up development of dBase IV along with its own Paradox --
\nwhich was then dBase IV's fiercest competitor.<\/p>\n
Years have passed, and after two major releases of Paradox for
\nWindows we have yet to see dBase for Windows hit the market.
\nIndeed, it's really hard to think of one good reason for a
\nsoftware company to develop two competing products at the same
\ntime.<\/p>\n
FoxPro<\/p>\n
It was a blessing in disguise for us, the end users, that
\nMicrosoft bought FoxPro from Fox Software and continued its
\ndevelopment. Release 2.5 of FoxPro for Windows must have caused
\nthe folks at Borland a run for their money, and as the results we
\nsaw a much revamped Paradox for Windows 4.5.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the merging of competitors has happened again.
\nAldus Corp. and Adobe System Inc. have just announced their
\nunion, too.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, both have mutually complementary products.
\nAldus has a world-class page layout program, namely, PageMaker.
\nAdobe has the most popular printing language in the professional
\nprinting world, Postscript. Both Aldus PageMaker and Adobe
\nPostscript form a combination that's more like the combination of
\na fat bank account and perfect health.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, however, both have competing products that
\nare considered leaders in their own field. Aldus has FreeHand,
\nAdobe has Illustrator, and both are very good graphics
\nillustration packages.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Aldus has PhotoStyler, Adobe has PhotoShop.
\nAgain, both belong to the top ranks of image manipulation
\nprograms. Now that they have become the products of the same
\ncompany, will we see the same innovative energy used to be
\nreflected in their new releases?<\/p>\n
As if not enough disheartening mergers have taken place,
\nSymantec Corp. and Central Point Software Inc. have also
\nannounced their decision to merge. Symantec, with its Peter
\nNorton Group, is the owner of first class Norton Desktop for
\nWindows. Central Point is the proud owner of PCTools for Windows.<\/p>\n
Choosing between the two Windows Program Manager replacements
\nis never an easy task. Such was the nature of the competition
\nbetween them that their latest upgrades appeared within months of
\neach other.<\/p>\n
So I'm asking myself, where will be the inspiring competition
\ncome from now that they have become the products of one and the
\nsame company?<\/p>\n
Let's hope that I'm wrong. Let's hope that these mergers will
\nnot diminish competition -- a situation that always spurs the
\nurge to innovate and to become more creative. Let's hope that
\nneither PhotoStyler nor PhotoShop, FreeHand nor Illustrator, NDW
\nnor PCTools for Windows will follow the fate of dBase IV.<\/p>",
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