Spreadsheet software NeXT project at Ashton-Tate.Spreadsheet software NeXT project at Ashton-Tate Collaboration to open doors for Torrance software maker Software publisher Ashton-Tate Corp., in its first collaboration with Steve Jobs' maverick Maverick family name of two brothers, Bret and Bait; self-centered and untrustworthy gentlemen gamblers. [TV: Terrace, II, 80] See : Gambling NeXT Inc., plans to release a spreadsheet software for NeXT computer systems, the companies announced Sept. 5. The commercial outlook for the software, called PowerStep, is hard to gauge. NeXT is a private company that won't divulge revenues or how many computer platforms it has sold or loaned to its users, who are primarily in higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. . Some published reports put the number of NeXT machines at about 15,000. PowerStep is undergoing final testing, and its availability and price have not been determined by $265 million (1989 revenues) Ashton-Tate. Nevertheless, Ashton-Tate President Bill Lyons told the Business Journal last week that teaming up with NeXT and its "leading-edge" capabilities was smart because it opens several doors. "The NeXT system enables us to get into the Unix marketplace," said Lyons, referring to the growing use of Unix operation systems by many computer makers, including IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) and Digital Equipment Corp., as well as NeXT. Because IBM recently contracted to use NeXT's proprietary window system, Ashton-Tate expects its new product will pigyback into sales of IBM's RS6000 work-station and PS/2 personal computer. "We have the opportunity to put PowerStep on these" computers, products said Lyons. The window system, plus other NeXT innovations -- like standard-feature voice recording and playback capabilities -- are key to drawing interest in PowerStep. Asked whether sales solely to the NeXT line could recoup recoup To sell an asset at a price sufficient to recover the original outlay or to offset a previous loss. Ashton-Tate's investment, Lyons said he was confident of an eventual return and pointed to "an announcement NeXT will make Sept. 18 that will improve their competitiveness." The gist of that news has not been made public. "If the NeXT machine takes off later in the year . . . (its window system) will gain a toehold in the general computer market," said Joseph Ammirato, Ashton-Tate's project manager for PowerStep. Ashton-Tate officials have been careful to portray por·tray tr.v. por·trayed, por·tray·ing, por·trays 1. To depict or represent pictorially; make a picture of. 2. To depict or describe in words. 3. To represent dramatically, as on the stage. PowerStep as anything but an ivory-tower software. Ammirato called it "a mainstream spreadsheet for the everyday user." Spreadsheet software is used by accountants, scientists and others to create graphs, pie charts A graphical representation of information in which each unit of data is represented as a pie-shaped piece of a circle. See business graphics. and other graphics. PowerStep will feature 3-D charts that can be rotated rotated turned around; pivoted. rotated tibia see rotated tibia. on the computer screen. Ashton-Tate stock closed Wednesday at $7.75, down 12.5 cents. Volume was 94,400, well below its average 165,000 shares a day. Ashton-Tate, headquartered in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County near Torrance, develops and markets software for business applications and advanced connectivity. The company publishes for database management systems, word processing word processing, use of a computer program or a dedicated hardware and software package to write, edit, format, and print a document. Text is most commonly entered using a keyboard similar to a typewriter's, although handwritten input (see pen-based computer) and , spreadsheets, graphics and software utility programs. The developer of dBASE, the top-selling database software, has operations worldwide. It sells products in 20 languages in more than 50 countries. |
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