General Magic moves its act to the Net

By Mike Ricciuti
Staff Writer, CNET News

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Beleaguered software development firm General Magic hopes to pull a rabbit out of its hat with a new Internet strategy set to be unveiled next week.

The company, which has posted losses totaling nearly $74 million since 1990, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report, hopes to cash in on Internet hysteria with new online applications, mobile Internet systems, and strategic relationships to be disclosed on Tuesday.

General Magic is developing a new version of its Telescript development language that lets users create intelligent agents that automatically surf the Web to find and classify data, according to the report. It is also recasting its Magic Cap operating system as a foundation for vertical business applications.

The company will have an uphill battle. Even though General Magic has deep-pocketed backers, such as AT&T, Apple Computer, and Motorola, two of the company's largest customers, Sony and AT&T, have scaled back plans to use General Magic software in their products, according to the report.

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