Acquisition of Ashton-Tate

Borland International acquired its struggling rival Ashton-Tate, the creator of dBase, a pioneering database system. This move was intended to consolidate Borland's position in the database market.

Significance

While seemingly strengthening Borland, the acquisition created internal product overlap and legal headaches, diverting resources and attention just as Borland needed to focus intensely on its Windows strategy, including the development of Paradox for Windows and ObjectPAL.