DATA POINTS: THE NEW-SKU RATIO.

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Measuring the payback from new products can be tricky, but--according to recent PC Data statistics--there's a surprisingly consistent tie between new SKU introduction and market share gains. Drawing on retail sales statistics for 1999, PC Data calculated the percentage of new SKUs in the total product portfolios of 121 companies that launched ten or more new titles (or upgrades) last year. Although a few publishers with high new-product ratios lost market share last year, the overall trend is unambiguous: The companies with the highest new-SKU ratios pulled well ahead of their competitors, while companies with stale product lines usually lost ground. Moreover, the new-SKU ratio seems to be even more important than hefty R&D and marketing budgets: Microsoft, with PC Data's third-worst new-SKU ratio (16% of 2,069 total SKUs), saw its retail market share actually decline by 1% during 1999.

1999 Annual Report, PC Data, 12001 Sunrise Valley Dr., Reston, Vir. 20191; 703/435-1025. Web: www.pcdata.com.

RED HAT chief executive Bob Young on the Linux community: "It is, far and away, the most argumentative, acerbic group I have ever had the misfortune to be part of. But don't get me wrong. That has been good for the technology." (Quoted in PC Week, 9/20/99)

J.P. MORGAN analyst Bill Eppifanio on the potential proliferation of incompatible versions of Linux: "Any time you have open source code, you're going to get forking. Forking will be just as bad for Linux as it was for Unix." (Quoted in Inter@ctive Week, 3/20/00)

SUN MICROSYSTEMS Linux group product manager Bill Roth on his company's relationship with the Linux community: "There is an inexorable march toward open source. But we have lawyers involved--this raises serious questions about intellectual property and trademark law as we move forward." (Quoted in Sm@rt Reseller, 3/27/00)

IBM vice president of technology strategy Irving Wladawsky-Berger on his company's embrace of Linux: "A few years ago we Web-enabled everything. Now we're making sure we Linux-enable everything. Our commitment to Linux is to make it ubiquitous." (Quoted in Information Week, 4/17/00)

SURVEY.COM senior analyst David Trowbridge on the commercialization of Linux: "We're trying to bridge hackers with capitalism, and it's no surprise that we're having trouble figuring it out." Quoted in Computer Reseller News, 4/17/00)

ASPECT DEVELOPMENT chief executive Romesh Wadhwani on early business- to-business Web sites that sold office supplies, cleaning materials, and other inexpensive commodities: "It absolutely mystifies me that the first generation of B2B commerce has been concentrated on the purchase of such low-value items." (Quoted in Inter@ctive Week, 4/24/00)

BUTLER, SHINE & STERN partner Greg Stern on the venture community's current obsession with consumer advertising: "The mantra on Sand Hill is 'build a brand.' If a brand is built, there will be equity in selling the company, and that benefits the venture capitalist." (Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, 2/16/00)

JACK TROUT & PARTNERS president Jack Trout on the high cost of promoting Web-based consumer brands: "Getting on the tube with $15 or $20 million is no guarantee of success. Advertising is a weak force that needs careful media planning and consistency. Historically, management has said that they know half of their advertising is wasted. They just don't know which half. In the Internet craze, all of it can be wasted." (Quoted in Business 2.0, 3/00)