Ashton-Tate Set to Unveil Correction of Software

Nearly two years after releasing an error-riddled version of its top-selling software program--and struggling with the disastrous consequences--Ashton-Tate Corp. is about to issue its long-promised corrected program.

But analysts say it may be a case of too little, too late for the Torrance personal computer software publisher whose fortunes, since its inception 10 years ago, have consistently revolved around its principal product, dBase.

In invitations received Wednesday, Ashton-Tate said it would unveil the corrected dBase update, known as dBase IV 1.1, at a special preview Tuesday in New York for customers, Wall Street analysts and media representatives.

“It’s about time,” said Peter Rodgers, a technology analyst at Robertson Colman in San Francisco.

Ashton-Tate has been working on the update since early last year after realizing that its first version of dBase IV--a product that sorts, indexes and retrieves huge quantities of information--was seriously flawed. Since the company acknowledged the problems, its sales have plunged, its share of the database management software market has shriveled and it has lost more than $50 million, throwing its very survival into question.

“Ashton-Tate has to get back, and the only way to do it is with a winning product,” said David Bayer, a technology analyst with Montgomery Securities in San Francisco. “The key question now is: How great is this product? And the reality now is that we won’t really know the answer for a few months.”

Still, other analysts said no matter how great the new product is, Ashton-Tate has suffered some stunning reversals from which it may never fully recover.

Specifically, analysts said while Ashton-Tate was concentrating on its dBase IV product, the entire market had bypassed that particular approach to managing huge quantities in favor of newer strategies that take full advantage of the more powerful desktop computers now available.

“Ashton-Tate’s approach is like a dinosaur,” said one analyst, who asked to remain anonymous. “Long term, the company is not positioned well, even if the new product is good, as I think it probably is.”

Barbara Isgur, a technology analyst with Needham & Co. in New York, said personal computer users today can choose more powerful alternatives to the traditional PC that Ashton-Tate’s programs are designed to serve, including sophisticated workstations.

Software market analyst Jeffrey Tarter in Boston noted that Ashton-Tate’s problems over the past two years have left customers and leading software writers so disenchanted that they have shifted to competing products. “The fiasco has allowed professional programmers to defect,” Tarter said.