UTAH TECH WATCH - - by David Politis - - 2/10-12/96 Edition

Well it looks like 35-year-old Steve Appleton is back in control at Micron.
That's about the only conclusion one could draw after the actions of the
past two weeks.

Earlier this week, Micron released a terse two paragraph news release
stating that Allen Noble had resigned from Micron's board of directors.

Apparently, Appleton's ouster was engineered by Noble, which was then
overturned by Micron's board and major shareholders, resulting in
Appleton's triumphant return and Noble's departure.

Sounds like an attempted coup d'etat gone awry.

As much as I'd personally like to see Micron succeed, I suspect we haven't
seen the last weird or unexpected actions out of this company.

Packard Bell changes

On Wednesday, Sacramento, California-based Packard Bell announced that it
had 1) Entered strategic relationships with NEC and Groupe Bull; 2) That
the two firms were going to invest $650 million in Packard Bell; and 3)
That Packard Bell will be acquiring Zenith Data Systems from Groupe Bull.

Now why should you care about this? Three reasons.

First, Packard Bell is arguably the largest manufacturer in the U.S. of
multimedia PCs for the home market.

Its PCs are found in virtually every computer retailer throughout Utah, and
they are generally some of the lowest priced machines on the market for
their features.

Second, ZDS has a long history in the short life of the PC industry as a
market innovator and technology leader. Specifically, ZDS was a leading
manufacturer of portable computers for several years in the late 80s and
early 90s.

Third, Packard Bell has a fairly large service and support facility in
Magna that employs between 500 and 1,000 Utahns.

Unfortunately, I can't be more precise than that because (according to the
Associated Press) the firm just fired 120 of its Magna employees for
failure to "get computer-industry certification."

Anyway, if the deal is consummated, Packard Bell would become a $5.5
billion company and one of the world's largest computer manufacturers.

Support problems

Unfortunately, I can't personally recommend purchasing Packard Bell
computers at this time.

That is, unless you really know your way around DOS and Windows, or you
never buy things that need repairing later.

I speak from personal experience because my company bought a Packard Bell
4225CD last month, a fairly modest 60MHz Pentium PC that was purchased
mostly on price.

Wrong decision!

In the three weeks we've had the machine, we have not been able to complete
one call to the Packard Bell support line -- it's always been busy.

In fact, we've not even gotten a call back from their support people when
we've faxed requests for help to them.

So for now, I cannot in good conscience recommend Packard Bell PCs based
upon the fact that their service thus far has been nonexistent.

Maybe things will change with the "new" Packard Bell.

Former Novellians report

I got a note from Greg Erickson, PR guru over at Sandy-based Zebra
Technologies, suggesting I look into where all the former Novell employees
are today. (Greg's suggestion was tied to Zebra's recent announcement that
it has hired former Novellian, Tom Creighton, as its vice president of
research and development.)

Personally, I think it's a good suggestion.

However, I have no real way for tracking down the hundreds of former Novell
employees out there (and yes, I include WordPerfect people in this mix).

So, if you (the reader) used to work for Novell or WordPerfect, or you know
of someone that did, please drop me a line if you're willing to talk on
the record.

I'd like to find out what you're doing now, what you did at
Novell/WordPerfect, and anything else you might like to talk about.

The best way to reach me is over the Internet at the following address:
dpolitis@altatech.com. Or you could also drop me a note at 9500 South 500
West #105, Sandy, UT 84070.

I suspect there are some pretty good stories waiting to be told.

A marketing communications consultant that specializes in high-tech and
health care clients, David Politis welcomes column ideas at 801-569-2592
or via the Internet at dpolitis@altatech.com.
 
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