Word: kapor
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Starting a successful company is one thing, but running it is not always as much fun. That was apparently the feeling of Mitch Kapor, who suddenly resigned last week as chairman of Lotus Development, the largest independent U.S. software firm. Though he will not start a new firm that would compete with Lotus, Kapor said, he is not sure what he will do next: "I'm not leaving with a business plan in my pocket or any intention to write one tomorrow...
Even in a field known for chief executives in jeans and running shoes, Kapor is unconventional. A Yale graduate, he worked as a disk jockey and taught transcendental meditation before he started Lotus in 1982. Co-author of the Lotus 1-2-3 business program, the best-selling software ever, Kapor prospered as Lotus blossomed, and now owns 1.6 million of the company's shares, worth $54 million...
...sold and what is just being talked about." Even Lotus, which earned a reputation for finishing best-selling programs like 1-2-3 and Symphony right on schedule, had its comeuppance this spring, when a Lotus program called Jazz boogied to market nearly two months late. Says Chairman Mitch Kapor: "It was like losing our virginity." One software publisher, Ansa, has adopted the policy of IBM, which usually declines to discuss products before they have been shipped to dealers. But other firms still deal in vapor. At a recent trade show, Atari announced the names of 138 programs being written...
Manufacturers of popular software are becoming industry superstars. The heads of software companies, like Microsoft's Gates, Lotus Development's Mitchell Kapor and Software Publishing's Fred Gibbons are wooed by hardware companies, which want them to produce pro grams that will run on their machines. Says Gibbons: "Control of the personal-computer industry is shifting from the hardware manufacturers to the software suppliers...
...made for every one sold. Manufacturers are aggressively defending their products. In February Lotus Development sued Rixon, a Silver Spring, Md., computer-accessory manufacturer, for $10 million, charging it made copies of Lotus' popular business program 1-2-3 for its own use. Declared Lotus President Kapor: "Software piracy is the theft of intellectual property." When the suit was settled in March, Rixon agreed to return all unauthorized copies to Lotus and pay an undisclosed sum of money...