[ Thanks to Renai
Lemay for this link. ]
“So, the news is out. Microsoft is Corel’s mysterious investor.
A Corel press release delivers the official word in a suitably
elliptical style.”
“While Microsoft’s motives for pouring money into the failed
Canadian software developer obviously go well beyond any
Linux-bashing strategy, the move might be seen as the Redmond-based
company’s first direct attack on Linux. I want to look at what
this move could mean for Linux, but first some background.”
“Corel is far from being the most important star on the Linux
stage. However, the company plays an interesting cameo role. Above
all, it’s the only pre-Linux software company to offer a packaged
distribution. Corel Linux isn’t fantastic, but it is packaged to
wean non-technical newbies off their Windows addiction. It is, or
at least was, an operating system methadone.”
“Corel also has a full-blown commercial office suite. It has
made significant contributions to the open source body of work. In
the greater scheme of things, losing Corel to Microsoft rates on
roughly the same level as the West losing, say, Austria to
communism during the Cold War.”