“There is a special irony to the deal with Microsoft, since many
of Corel’s woes can be traced back to earlier attempts to port its
desktop applications to alternative platforms in order to escape
what former CEO Cowpland had called the ‘Windows tax’. A lengthy
project in the late 1990s to create a Java version of the
WordPerfect Office suite for network appliances was ultimately
cancelled due to the unsuitability of the platform. More recently,
investments in Linux led to a proposed merger with Inprise, which
subsequently had to be abandoned.”
“Now Microsoft is the architect of the platform that Corel
believes will finally allow it to port its applications away from
Windows and onto the Web. ‘We’re really excited to have an ISV with
such a long history as Corel – we think Corel is really in a
position to do great things on the .Net platform,’ said Tom Button,
general manager of Microsoft’s developer division. ‘We end up with
a top ISV with great R&D targetting the .Net platform.'”
“It remains to be seen whether and in what guise Microsoft will
deliver on its .Net vision, but Corel – despite its earlier errors
of judgement in sizing up Web platforms – is clearly a significant
endorsement to win. As outlined earlier this year in the
ASPnews.com report Internet Application Engines…the battle to win
the hearts and minds of Web-centric software developers is a
crucial first step towards establishing the dominant technologies
of the Internet computing era. Oracle and Microsoft have both been
fighting that battle in earnest this week.”