The Cole Digest, March 29, 1995

The gale forces of marketing probably are responsible for knocking the wind out of Whirlwind, the editorial and classified front-end system whose lineage stretched back to Composition Systems Inc., Hastech and Camex.

Du Pont Newspaper Systems of Nashua, N.H., maker of the beleaguered product, shut down late last year when it became apparent that no one would be buying the development and marketing rights to Whirlwind.

Although Du Pont had "letters of intent" to purchase Whirlwind, said Cathleen Branciaroli, public relations manager for Du Pont's Printing and Publishing division, the company "couldn't come to closure" with any of the prospective buyers.

Following initial layoffs in August, she said, "fewer than 30 people" were to be let go.

The other product line being sold out of Nashua, the ImagiTex monochrome scanner business, was purchased in August by Sixty Eight Thousand Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. Now going by the name Arrisystems, the company hired longtime industry executive Gary Moore (formerly of Information International Inc. and Scitex) to run ImagiTex, which will remain in Nashua.

It was an open industry secret that the company most interested in Whirlwind was System Integrators Inc. of Sacramento. But a deal was not to be.

"We differed considerably on where they think the technology is and where we think the technology is," said William Aaronson, the president and chief executive of SII.

Aaronson said he personally visited a number of installed Whirlwind sites and came away with the feeling there would be considerable work to get the systems to the point they would be fully functional.

"I'm surprised at [Du Pont's] conviction" regarding the status of the product, Aaronson said.

The first customer for the product that became Whirlwind was the Houston Chronicle, which signed a contract in February 1988 with Camex -- which was purchased by Du Pont a short time later -- for a new editorial and classified front-end system that was to be based on Sun workstations and UNIX.

"We are continuing on," said Jack Stanley, the Chronicle's vice president of operations. Houston's all-day paper is currently producing more than two-thirds of its pages on Whirlwind, including features and business, according to Systems Editor Paul SoRelle.

Stanley said that "not much" had happened with the system between the late June announcement that Whirlwind was for sale, and mid-October. "In the last month," he said in November, "we've had more things fixed than we had in the last four months."

Stanley said his paper would take over finishing the product. "It's nothing a little Brasso and a little elbow grease can't fix," he said.

Other Whirlwind customers include Krause Publications of Iola, Wis., Il Secolo XIX of Genoa, Italy, Otago Daily Times of Dunedin, New Zealand, and the Chronicle of Higher Education in Washington.

It appears that Du Pont is negotiating with each customer to relieve itself of any Whirlwind obligations; thus, customers we contacted were unwilling to discuss the situation. Apparently, though, customers will get a full set of source code.

Stanley, for one, still believes in Whirlwind's concept of using industrial-strength products such as Sun workstations and the multitasking UNIX operating system for publishing.

"I'm quite encouraged, and I still believe in the vision," he said. "Frankly, I like a machine that can walk and chew gum at the same time."

Onward.

\dmc

[THE COLE DIGEST is written by consultant David M. Cole, editor and publisher of the industry newsletter THE COLE PAPERS. The DIGEST is made available to PressLink members every Wednesday at no extra charge. Send comments by e-mail to cole@plink.geis.com. The COLE DIGEST is the property of The Cole Group, a California sole proprietorship. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of The Cole Group is prohibited. Copyright (C) 1995, The Cole Group. Opinions expressed are those of The Cole Group, unless otherwise noted. [THE COLE PAPERS is a monthly newsletter devoting itself to technology, journalism and publishing. Subscriptions are $117 for 12 issues ($135 outside the U.S.). MasterCard, Visa and American Express cards are accepted. For more information, e-mail cole@plink.geis.com, call (415) 673-2424, fax (415) 673-2449 or write The Cole Group, 2590 Greenwich St., Ste. 9, San Francisco USA 94123-3333.]