IBM Corp and Apple Computer Inc, both now in cash-conserving mode, have been warning their Kaleida Labs Inc multimedia joint venture for some time that the palmy days were over, and now the boom has fallen. The board reportedly decided to cut back Kaleida’s activities in a conference call on May 4, and has ordered the company to drop everything until the Script-X multimedia scripting language is complete; 25 of the 125 employees are expected to go, and the budget will be halved. Projects at the company such as software for television set-top decoders – a joint venture with Scientific Atlanta Inc and Motorola Inc using PowerPC – goes on the back burner until ScriptX is delivered, Apple said.
