Conference nyoss1::market_investing

Perhaps the two new additions to the board of directors, or the demonstration
of the Network Computer?

    	Well, they were downgraded to hold from buy by UBS...  Earnings are
    due out next Tuesday 3/13.  I'd guess someone knows something bad.
    

    The only news today (and nothing yesterday) is that they announced
    new additions to their BoD (see enclosed).

    Lots of volume also, almost 19 million shares traded hands today....
    Sounds like something bigger is brewing than just this annoucement!

	     Oracle Announces New Additions to Board of Directors

		PR Newswire, Thursday, March 06, 1997 at 08:23

    REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Corp.
(Nasdaq: ORCL) today announced that Richard A. McGinn of Lucent Technologies
Inc. (NYSE: LU) and Jeffrey Berg of International Creative Management, Inc.
(ICM) have joined Oracle's Board of Directors.  With today's announcement, the
Oracle Board of Directors consists of the following individuals:  Lawrence J.
Ellison, Dr. Michael J. Boskin, Donald L. Lucas, Jack Kemp, Jeffrey O. Henley,
Raymond L. Lane, Richard A. McGinn and Jeffrey Berg.
    "I am delighted and proud that both Jeff and Rich have chosen to join the
Oracle board.  The company is certain to benefit from their creativity,
insight, counsel and diverse business experience," said Lawrence J. Ellison,
Chairman and CEO of Oracle Corp.
    Mr. Berg is the Chairman and CEO of ICM -- a talent and literary agency
representing clients in the fields of publishing, motion pictures, television,
music, theater, news and public affairs.  Mr. Berg graduated with honors in
English from the University of California at Berkeley and received a Master of
Liberal Arts from the University of Southern California.  He presently serves
as co-chair of the California Information Technology Council and is a member
of the Executive Board of the College of Letters and Sciences at the
University of California at Berkeley and the Board of Visitors of the Anderson
Graduate School of Management at UCLA.  He was awarded the Cavaliere Ufficiale
of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy in 1991.
    Mr. McGinn is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Lucent
Technologies Inc. and was formerly executive vice president of AT&T and chief
executive officer of the AT&T Network Systems Group.  Mr. McGinn holds a
bachelor's degree from Grinnell College.  Mr. McGinn is a member of the Board
of Directors of Lucent Technologies Inc. and recently joined the Council on
Competitiveness, a bipartisan policy group.  His past affiliations include the
AT&T Capital Corporation Board of Directors, the AT&T Paradyne Board of
Directors, and the Computer and Communications Industry Association.
    Oracle Corporation is the world's leading supplier of software for
information management, and the world's second largest software company.  With
annual revenues exceeding $4.8 billion, the company offers its database, tools
and application products, along with related consulting, education and support
services, in more than 90 countries around the world.
    For more information about Oracle, please call 415/506-7000.  Oracle's
World Wide Web address is http://www.oracle.com/.

    Trademarks
    Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation.  All other
products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only,
and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE  Oracle Corp.
    -0-                             03/06/97
    /CONTACT:  Lauren Ames of Oracle Corp., 415-506-4176/

Companies or Securities discussed in this article:
    Symbol                   Name
NASDAQ:ORCL    Oracle Corporation
NYSE:LU        Lucent Technologies Inc

    wsj says:
    
    MAI Systems Corp. (NOW) acquired the Cimpro division
    of Oracle Corp.'s (ORCL) Datalogix International Inc. unit for $5.9
    million in cash.
    
    In a press release Thursday, MAI Systems said Cimpro makes process
    manufacturing enterprise resource planning systems for food, chemical
    and pharmaceutical companies.
    

> Well, they were downgraded to hold from buy by UBS...

	NBR reported they were downgraded from not just a buy, but
	a "strong buy" down to hold!

    Computer Associates (CA) has lost 1/3 of its value in the last
    few months. I wonder if this is a software industry "thing".
    

     The reason cited for Oracle's slump is impact on earnings during the
    phase Oracle transitions to Oracle 8. Informix also dipped in
    sympathy. 

Heard that Compaq decommitted to the NC today, they said they were going 
to team with Intel/MS, and thought they'd be cost competitive.  This may 
have hurt Oracl also.

    re .1 - I give, what's the Network Computer?

    >What's an NC?
    
    Something, like PDAs, that enables a computer company to lose
    their shirt.
    ;-)
    

Network Computer, aka NC, aka `Thin Client' in the current MicroSoft speak.


There are several flavors, in essence it's a stripped down desktop
computer. MS are going for a very cheap PC. It has no disk (or perhaps
a residual disk) and gets it's data off the Intranet. 

Some are intended for very low cost environments (I think that was Oracle's
plan), others are just easy to manage centrally (Current MS approach). 
This could also be low cost but may not necessarily be.

Our Multia couldbe thought of as a Thin Client.

M

I read somewhere that Oracle set up several application development centers, 
where they effectively did custom software for Clients. I believe these
did not prove as successful as expected.

Perhaps it's just a run of bad news.

M