As expected (CI No 3,207), Smalltalk company ParcPlace-Digitalk Inc’s changing its name for the Java-based shop called ObjectShare it acquired last year to better reflect the nature of its business going forward, such that it is. For its first quarter ended June 30th the company reported a net loss of $2.5m down from a loss of $3.05m last time; revenue slumped a whopping 56% to $5.1m from $11.5m last time. It’s already made provision for a charge against its second quarter to cover the layoff of 40 staff – it’s now down to 145 employees – and to reduce costs. ObjectShare Inc will have Java, training and consulting and ParcPlace-Digitalk units. The Java unit will be responsible for developing the company’s Parts for Java application development environment. The ParcPlace unit will develop some specific new functions for the company’s existing Smalltalk products, including technologies to bridge the gap between Smalltalk and Java. The training group will provide precisely that. The company, which becomes ObjectShare next month, thinks Java won’t be suitable for enterprise use until the end of 1998.
