Fuller Empty - Who's Driving the Bus Now?

Well, late Thursday, July 7th, Dale Fuller, President and CEO of Borland Software, stepped away from his 6 year stint as driver of the Borland bus. You see, the Borland bus had not been fairing as well as hoped -- fiscally numbers just weren't what was projected and shares had been dropping, and, perhaps, for that reason Mr. Fuller unbuckled and got out -- or perhaps he was asked to step aside?

At this point, there's some chatter I hear among a few developers. Somewhere in the crowd on this beat up bus that many of us are still on there's a sign that says, “David I for President!" A few in the back, those who have been around a while, are chanting, "we want David, we want David!" Without a doubt, David I is a guy who understands the Borland customer base -- the developers. Why? Because he talks to them.

But, I would guess, David I probably wouldn't even want the job. Not if he's expected to drive the bus as if it were a cash register looking to pickup some wealthy fat-wallet enterprisers, who would not only be picked up to fill the vacant seats but would be picked up to overtake the seats of developer's that had already been on the bus for quite some time. To some extent that's what management had been aiming to do. You see, they had forgotten who was already on the bus. They had forgotten that the bus had started off more like a developer's toolbox not a cash register, a box once filled with updated tools for the journey ahead, and developer's (from students to hobbyists to fortune 500 employees) willing to go where other tool vendors (including Microsoft) had not quite invisioned. It was a bus that choose to lead not follow. It was about the developer not the mighty dollar. Equal developer opportunity (EDO) was the name of the game. But now it appears it has been a bus in need of some work, threatening to get stuck on the side of the road. And the driver, Mr. Dale Fuller, just unbuckled and left (receiving a severence for $1.2 million I might add).

The optimist in me says, it's alright? Even though Mr. Fuller left, and David I isn't up to driving, at least somebody else is. So up at the front, just sliding in the driver seat now, is Scott Arnold - the acting interim CEO. He’s now the man with the keys, driving the Borland bus! What I can't tell is if has the same ear plugs fully inserted as Mr. Fuller had previously. I presume not. Right now the developer's are quiet, watching, waiting, but in a minute you can be sure the developer's will be anxious to let the bus driver know where to go. Will he be listening?

I had a chance to meet Mr. Arnold briefly last fall, and he appears to be a sharp businessman who takes carefully guided steps. Strategy, bu$iness operations, and product development are the key attributes identified for Mr. Arnold, who, despite only joining Borland less than two years ago as COO, has apparently made quite an impression.

But is he a visionary? Can he see down the road ahead? And is he a people person? Does he look up and chat with those of us on the bus? If he's going to be driving the bus those things are important. If that's his character (and they very well could be), surely he will focus not so much on product development, but on developer's products! That, my friends, has been the bread and butter of Borland when times were good and that is surely what must result for Borland to rebound once again.

The products that are clear to me that Mr. Arnold should focus on include the following:

• Win64 Tools and supporting VCL components with backward support for Win32 (The Windows API is alive and well and will be for quite sometime!)
• Delphi
• C++ (aka DeXter)
• C# (yes you heard right! - why not be the first to deliver C# for the Win64 / Win32 platform?)

• .NET Tools with support for the .NET Compact Framework - (let's be honest .NET is flailing a bit - it is not the Holy Grail as Microsoft anticipated - that why I put it second to the Windows API)
• Delphi
• C++ (Managed C++)
• C#
• JBuilder (make it affordable - and bundled to install and work out of the box - unlike Eclipse, which, as great as it is, takes some time to snap together)
• Together-UML (make it affordable --- go for market share - everyone is sick of the pricey Rose. Bring back the Community Edition)
• Eclipse Plug-Ins (affordable plug-ins like editors, designers, UML modelers (Together), Starteam, etc... - remake a name for yourself in this market)

What other items do you think he needs to focus on? Is "Enterprise" all that important anymore? Why is it that CEOs tend to go after the Enterprise Mine (as if it's the motherlode), when there are much more fertile smaller mines that could add up to much more?

Consider this, if you can sell 100 items at $10 a pop, compared to only 5 of the same item at $100 a pop, which would make you more money?

In summary, the Developer market is more fertile than the Enterprise market. In fact, if you focus primarily on the Developer market, you could likely receive a good part of the Enterprise market that you were shooting for originally just through osmosis. Philippe had this right originally. Dell and Dale both missed that (although Dale had sight of it in his words at times, but lost it in his actions). Now Scott has a chance to get it right. So, Mr. Arnold, if you are listening? It seems developers have gone through a great deal of neglect from Borland management over the last few years. In fact, the last CEO hardly ever looked up into his rear view mirror to see who was on the bus. But you will look up from time to time, won’t you? We know where we want to go? But where are you taking us? Is it the same destination we desire? Keep in mind what we need most are some quality tools in our toolboxes again and for a bus to lead the way!