THE ORACLE SUBSCRIPTION PRICING TEST. (Company Business and
Marketing)
So far, subscription-based software pricing hasn't produced more
than a few sputters on the launching pad. Interliant, one of the few
hosting services to offer subscription applications, so far has . . .
DATA POINTS: EXIT STRATEGIES.(acquisition, merger, and IPO
trends) (Industry Trend or Event)(Column)
A handful of technology companies still manage to achieve escape
velocity with public stock offerings, but lately it's more common
for investors and founders to achieve liquidity through a merger . . .
NAMES TO AVOID.(company nameing issue) (Industry Trend or
Event)
Naming expert Naseem Javed is a notoriously harsh critic of the
"sloppy and repetitive" way that technology companies identify
themselves and their products. He insists that "less than one
percent of . . .
HOW TO CREATE GREAT REBATE CAMPAIGNS.(Symantec's strategy)
(Company Business and Marketing)
The latest twist in software pricing is one of the consumer
world's oldest marketing tools: the rebate coupon. In the past
year, retail software buyers have seen a blitz of rebate offers, . . .
METHODOLOGY & SOURCES.(Editorial)
The data that appears in this report has been compiled primarily from
company proxies, supplemented by annual reports, prospectuses, and
interviews. Companies are included in this survey if they . . .
THE 1998 SOFT*LETTER EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION SURVEY. (Industry
Trend or Event)
How much should executive pay reflect a company's stock market
performance? So far, the PC software industry's collective answer
has been, "a lot." The highest-paid executives at 62 public
companies . . .
MICROSOFT. (News Briefs)(Brief Article)
MICROSOFT temporary program manager John Schussler on the resentment
felt by some of his company's many temporary workers, who are
ineligible for option grants: "I'm surprised someone
hasn't gone . . .
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY. (News Briefs)(Brief Article)
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY chairman Warren Buffett on his feeling that
options are being abused: "There is no question in my mind that
mediocre CEOs are getting incredibly overpaid. And the way it's
being . . .
PEARL MEYER & PARTNERS. (News Briefs)(Brief Article)
PEARL MEYER & PARTNERS compensation expert Steven Hall on the
growth of corporate option pools: "We used to advise companies that
an allocation of 10% was too much dilution, but we blew through . . .
INSTITUTIONAL SHAREHOLDER SERVICES. (News Briefs)(Brief
Article)
INSTITUTIONAL SHAREHOLDER SERVICES director Peter Gleason on his
firm's policy of advising institutional investors to vote against
companies that reprice employee options: "Resetting the strike
price . . .
DATA POINTS: MARKETING RATIOS. (Industry Trend or
Event)(Column)
Marketing budgets for software companies tend to reflect wide
variations in sales channels and promotional strategies, so
industry-wide averages usually don't provide meaningful benchmarks
for . . .
GORILLA BRANDING.(company brand name issue) (Company Business and
Marketing)
In the consumer world, a company's most valuable asset usually
isn't products or technology--it's a well-cultivated brand.
Front-line marketing employees at companies like Proctor & Gamble
and RJR . . .
THE DEVALUATION OF OPTIONS.(employee stock options) (Industry
Trend or Event)
Has equity lost its old magic? Not entirely, say compensation experts
Hali and Mel Croner, who have tracked pay and incentive trends in the
software industry for almost a decade. "But enough people . . .
12 WAYS TO BOOST WEB STORE SALES.(Digital River's tips on
Web site configuration) (Company Business and Marketing)
"Electronic distribution has become a numbers game," argues
Todd Frostad of Digital River, a leading Web store hosting service. With
hundreds of sites selling software and hundreds of thousands . . .
The Ten Best Web Support Sites of 1998.(Directory)
The Two Best Overall Support Sites
* Great Plains Software (www.gps.com/customersource) Tracy Falelde,
general manager of enhancements, Great Plains Software, 1701 SW 38 St.,
Fargo, N.D. . . .
SITE PROMOTION.(Web site of Bentley Systems, Great Plains
Software) (Company Business and Marketing)
Tech support isn't usually a service that software companies
like to promote. But Web support is different: Inviting customers to
visit a Web support site can produce very substantial savings . . .
POPULAR FEATURES.(Web site features of Trellix, microsoft,
Bentley Systems, Symantec) (Company Business and Marketing)
The most basic Web support site is probably just a list of
"Frequently Asked Questions" and a searchable version of the
same knowledgebase that support reps are using. But there are several
other . . .
PROJECT MANAGEMENT.(Web site building, Great Plains Software,
Trellix, DataWorks, Cisco, Symantec) (Company Business and
Marketi
Clearly, there's no textbook plan for building a Web support
site. Great Plains spent a half-million dollars and two years to convert
thousands of internal knowledgebase documents into a public . . .
DESIGN & NAVIGATION:.(Web site designs of DataWorks, Intel,
Microsoft, Symantec, Novell) (Company Business and Marketing)
Web. support sites are inherently complex; it's not unusual for
a knowledgebase to contain tens of thousands of documents and files for
each title in a company's product portfolio. Developers . . .
THE YEAR'S BEST WEB SUPPORT SITES. (Internet/Web/Online
Service Information)
Is Web-based tech support the silver bullet that finally transforms
the terrible economics of PC software support? It's easy to be
skeptical, because so many other breakthrough ideas . . .
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