Paul asked for comment on the financial system products formerly
marketed by Smith, Dennis and Gaylord (SD&G).  This suite, known as
Visual XL in its last incarnation, was once one of the leading financial
products for the HP3000.

SD&G no longer exists as an independent company.  It was bought out by a
PC package vendor named Solomon.  The Visual XL product is essentially
obsolete, and therefore will never be made Year 2000 compliant.

The last conversation we had with former SD&G staff indicated that the
only viable solution for Visual XL users is to switch to another
financial package.  Naturally, they strongly recommend the Solomon
suite, which is a Windows system based on NT Server databases.

At NPD we took this suggestion to heart.  Our finance department is
actively reviewing alternative systems.  Given that SD&G has "abandoned"
their existing customer base, the Solomon suite is not likely to be
considered favorably.

The focus is currently on products from the much larger and more likely
reliable vendors.  It would be unfair to name any here since I am sure I
would leave some out, but if you do a little research in the Interact or
HP Chronicle vendor guides you can compile a fairly substantial list of
alternatives for HP3000, HP9000 and Windows NT.

Rob Joseph
The NPD Group
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