Kahn forms new consumer software firm, 'Starfish,' while Borland intros 'Delphi.' (Philippe Kahn; Starfish Software; Delphi Client Server software)

Borland Sells Starfish Its Consumer Software, And Shuts Down Its Consumer Products Division

Philippe Kahn, the former president and CEO of straggling Borland International Inc., has announced a new software venture, Starfish Software.

Kahn says the startup is focused on developing and marketing "a family of high-quality, simple but powerful PC tools" via the Internet. Kahn says Starfish has purchased the consumer products, Sidekick for Windows and Dashboard for Windows from Borland International.

Borland says selling the two consumer oriented products to Kahn dovetails with its plans to focus on providing tools to software developers. The Scotts Valley, Calif, company says it is discontinuing its consumer products division called Simplify.

As a result of the transaction, Borland will get a minor equity position in Starfish, but will not be involved in any aspect of its management or operation. Most of the 35 employees of the Simplify division will be offered positions with Starfish.

Kahn, Borland's founder, left under fire last month (see Software Industry Report, Jan. 23, pg. 1) as the Scotts Valley, Calif., company struggled to cope with steep losses. Kahn remains chairman of Borland's board. Hard-nosed cost-cutter Gary Wetzel is its new president.

Kahn says starting out his new company with Sidekick is a big boost because it already has some 10 million users that Starfish will continue to support with future releases. "I love Sidekick," Kahn says, adding that it will evolve "according to the vision that has guided its growth into the best-selling personal organizer."

Starfish will use Borland's new high-performance Windows development tool, called Delphi, to develop consumer applications for Windows 95, the new Microsoft Corp. operating system upgrade due out in August. Plans call for the Starfish applications to ship concurrently with Windows 95.

Starfish products will follow the slimware concept pioneered by Sidekick. "Slimware ships on a single disk and adds functionality to popular applications," Kahn says. Starfish expects to ship its first products on March 1, with others to follow later in the year.

Kahn's new startup has been operating out of temporary offices in Scotts Valley. It currently has eight employees, but plans call for it to move to nearby Santa Cruz when workers from Borland's Simplify division join Starfish ranks.