Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Wed, Mar 25 1992 Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 05:43:34 EST Message-ID: 03-25 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update March 25, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MICROSOFT BUYS FOX: Microsoft moved into software maker Borland International's best market Tuesday by buying Fox software. It bought Fox for 1.36 million shares of Microsoft, worth $173 million at Tuesday's close of $127 1:2. That will let Microsoft to get into the market for personal-computer database software for the first time. (For more, see special Borland package below.) HEARING SET FOR APRIL 14: A House subcommittee Tuesday said it will hold a public hearing, tentatively scheduled for April 14, to investigate reports the Pentagon secretly planned to come to the rescue of financially-troubled defense contractor McDonnell Douglas in 1990. The hearing will also examine $148 million in early payments by the Defense Department to McDonnell for its C-17 cargo aircraft. ROCKET MOTOR IS OPPOSED: The beleaguered Advanced Solid Rocket Motor project took another blow Tuesday when a National Research Council committee called for the agency to reconsider its development. Joseph G. Gavin, chairman of the council's Committee on Earth-to-orbit transportation, told two House panels NASA should continue to rely on the solid rocket motor now used to help boost space shuttles into orbit. ASTRONAUTS STUDYING ATMOSPHERE: An international crew of astronauts is orbiting the planet on a mission to study the ocean of air that envelopes Earth. The crew of the Atlantis Space shuttle have begun activating the payload - the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science - an array of 12 sophisticated instruments that will study Earth's atmosphere and the sun's interaction with it. INSIDERS SELLING STOCK: Executives at some of the USA's most successful computer companies are selling some of their stock in the firms they run. Apple Chairman and CEO John Sculley, Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy, and Microsoft Chairman and multibillionaire Bill Gates all have sold big chunks in the past two months. Many executives and directors are also selling their stock. APPLE TO GIVE GUIDELINES: Apple Computer Inc. Tuesday announced plans to provide a detailed set of guidelines to help customers design information systems that more easily integrate desktop computers into enterprise systems. Corporate customers can get the information by calling 800-635-9550, ext. 502 or through their Apple National Account executives. SMART CARS USE SATELLITES: The USA's biggest test yet of smart-car technology begins Wednesday in Orlando, Fla. Satellite signals and a magnetic compass pinpoint car location while wheel sensors measure distance traveled. Orlando's Traffic Management Center transmits up-to-the minute reports - based on traffic-signal monitors, highway surveillance and police - to the in-vehicle computer. KODIAK SIGNS DEAL WITH EVEREX: Kodiak Technology Inc. and Everex Systems Inc. said Tuesday they have signed an agreement under which Kodiak will manufacture Ethernet adapter cards for Everex. The Ethernet adapters will carry the Everex "Speedlink" brand name and will be sold through Everex distributor and value-added-reseller sales channels. Product shipments will begin in March, the firms say. MICROCELL ENTERS JOINT PROJECT: Magnavision Corporation said Tuesday it has made an agreement with Microcell Systems Corporation for the purpose of creating Personal Communications Network Systems - Telecommunications Business. The two will design, manufacture, sell and install the systems. Microcell invented many of the technologies. Magnavision is a wireless communication cable television company. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON BORLAND: FOX MAKES DBASE CLONE: Microsoft Tuesday said it would buy Fox Software. The move will hurt Borland International. When Borland acquired Ashton-Tate, it got Ashton-Tate's dBASE program which currently dominates the market. Fox makes a top competitor that is a clone of dBASE. Borland's stock fell 7 1:4 points, or 10.3%, to $63 with the prospect of increased competition and a lingering legal challenge. MOVE COULD HELP FOX: Analysts who were worrying that Borland was taking longer than they'd hoped to make best use of Ashton-Tate's strengths now have a new worry. "Fox got a real boost in the arm by the marketing might of Microsoft, the largest software company in the world," says John Maxwell of SoundView Financial. SUIT COULD DRAG ON: Lotus failed to get an immediate, or summary, judgment in its copyright-infringement lawsuit against Borland. A U.S. District Court in Boston also denied Borland's motion to dismiss the case. That means the lawsuit will drag on at least until the end of April, when both sides next appear in court. Lotus dropped 1 3:8 to $34. (End of package.) Technology Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM