August 20th, 1999

[12:15 PM]
Motorola Engineer Speaks Out About Metrowerks Buyout
In response to our coverage on the planned buyout of Metrowerks by Motorola, we got lots of responses, including the following from a Motorola engineer. We have deleted all references to his/her position and group within Motorola, but he/she is definitely in a position to have an opinion.

I am a software developer here in Austin, at Motorola. There is a lot I don't know, but based on my experience, this is how I perceive this event.

In short...

! ! ! ! ! T H I S S T I N K S ! ! ! ! ! !

A quote [from MacWeek]...

"In a conference call with reporters, Metrowerks CEO Jean Belanger and Billy Edwards, corporate vice president and director of strategic planning at Motorola Semiconductor,"

Billy Edwards is the high level VP who is behind the "NT Everywhere, Macs Nowhere" program at Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector.

I know I have that leaked memo somewhere on my other machine, saved from the web, and it is probably searchable on MacInTouch from about two years ago when the "Motorola going wintel" furor first erupted.

Motorola now fully owns the Somerset Design Center, home of the PPC, buying out IBM's share a year or so ago.

Motorola at that same time decided to shift their design engineers to focus on making PPCs for the embedded market instead of the desktop, (which they considered an effort that "failed miserably" (actual manager quote)), where they thought they would get better return on their effort.

IBM is the maker of the CPUs in the iMacs, iBooks, maybe even G3s, -not- Motorola.

Motorola is still on the "NT Everywhere, No New Macs" program.

Motorola is still P.O.'ed at Apple for terminating MacOS licensing, 'forcing' Motorola to eat over $90 million that summer.

There may be some designers who are Mac friendly, but I don't think any upper management is, and more likely, Mac-hostile.

I am not enthused about this unholy marriage. I don't think Motorola could care less about the success of the Mac, they would just as soon let IBM sell to Apple, I believe.

If you reference any of this, *PLEASE* keep my name, and the name of my group anonymous.

A fitting quote...

"Paranoia strikes deep, into your heart it will creep."
"For What It's Worth"
-Stephen Stills - Buffalo Springfield

Thanks for your thoughts!

The Mac Observer Spin: This is certainly not the public face being put on the acquisition by Motorola and Metrowerks. However, the view from the inside is usually more telling than the public posturing. Time will tell.

Motorola