The Rodney Dangerfield of Software Turns Twenty
Corel is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. That’s significant for any software company, but for one that sometimes seems like the Rodney Dangerfield of the industry, making it to twenty is a milestone worth examining.
When Corel started in 1985, it was the heady early days of desktop computing. Aldus launched PageMaker, Apple shipped the first Macintosh, Microsoft released the first copy of Windows, Intel launched the 80386 processor, and Adobe put the finishing touches to the first version of PostScript.
Corel released the illustration program CorelDRAW in 1989, not too long after Adobe Illustrator and Aldus FreeHand were born. CorelDRAW 1 was optimized for the top-of-the-line 286 PC, which boasted 2 MB of RAM and a 40 MB hard drive. CorelDRAW has often been way ahead of its competitors with advanced features and acceptance. Take version 2: It introduced several industry firsts, such as Envelope, Blend, Extrude, and Perspective, all of which were later imitated by the competition. Sign makers and the plastics industry recognized CorelDRAW as an innovator, and soon it became their de facto software. Nearly every sign shop in the English-speaking world used CorelDRAW, and many still do. In 1992, CorelDRAW 3 became the first graphics suite, combining drawing and photo editing in one package.
In 1996, Corel acquired Novell’s suite of tools, which included WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Paradox, and the Perfect Office suite. WordPerfect had been one of the first software successes, but when Novell bought it, it was already suffering from bad marketing and aggressive competition from Microsoft Word. By the time Corel acquired WordPerfect, the app was in serious trouble. It lacked features and many in the business world were afraid to commit to such a distant competitor to Microsoft. Corel quickly modernized WordPerfect and took it to new heights as an inexpensive alternative to Word.
Dark Days
Around 1999, Corel entered a bad four-year patch, during which the company experimented with several unsuccessful initiatives.
For example, in 1999 Corel took on Microsoft with the introduction of Corel Linux OS, calling Linux an operating system “for the people.” Corel CEO Michael Cowpland said, “DOS had 10 years, Windows has had the last 10 years, and now it’s time for Linux.” There was a free download and a $49 version that included a light version of WordPerfect. This venture into the world of operating systems proved to be a disaster; by the middle of 2000, Corel teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. Strangely, its knight in shining armor was none other than Microsoft, which pulled Corel back from the brink with a $135 million shot in the arm. Soon after, Corel abandoned Linux.
Next came the acquisition of many of the MetaCreations products, including the KPT set of Photoshop filters; Bryce, an application for creating 3D worlds; and the natural-media paint application Painter. Many of these apps were most popular on Macs, and because Corel had a bad Mac reputation (due to its half-hearted Mac versions of Draw) the company started a subsidiary called Procreate to market Painter, the KPT filters, and Knockout. Procreate was not fruitful, and soon Corel divested itself of most of the KPT titles and Bryce, and brought Painter back under the Corel name.
Even during the dark times, there were a few positive developments: Dell agreed to include WordPerfect Office as an option with all Dell computers, and Corel acquired Micrografx Designer, yet another application down on its luck, and brought it up to 21st-century standards.
The Darkness Lifts
In the summer of 2003, everything turned around. San Francisco-based Vector Capital acquired Corel, delisted it from the Stock Exchange, brought in new management, and revitalized the company.
Rick Altman, a long-time user of Corel software and organizer of the CorelWorld conference, says the company still has a long row to hoe. “On the one hand, they are in competition with Microsoft for the office users, and at the same time they have the most superb software for creating office graphics for WordPerfect, Microsoft Office, and PowerPoint.”
Since 2003, Corel has launched CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12, one of the most fully featured packages available for artists and designers on the Windows platform. Word Perfect Office 12 now boasts 20 million users and is packed with features (such as XML publishing capabilities) that Microsoft should have included years ago. The company has replaced the old Micrografx Designer with Corel Designer, which is fast becoming an industry leader in the fields of engineering, documentation drawings, and prototyping. In addition, Corel acquired Paint Shop Pro from Jasc Software, which immediately made Corel a major player in the amateur digital photography market. Altman says he is looking forward to “seeing how Corel integrates Paint Shop Pro into the product mix. Maybe they will combine Photo-Paint and Paint Shop Pro, which has millions of users who are very passionate about the product.”
After a promising start and a tumultuous interval, Corel is finally emerging as a major player. Now that most everyone has dropped out of competing with Microsoft Office, WordPerfect is a solid number-two in the business world. Always in third place behind Adobe and Macromedia, the likely upcoming merger of the two big guys moves Corel into second place in the graphics world. Altman notes, “Second place is a good place to be, as many retailers feel the need to stock competing products, so Corel may get a boost from the Adobe/Macromedia merger.”
Second place is a pretty good position for anyone. And in some smaller vertical markets, such as sign-making and commercial embroidery, Corel has long been number one. With seven consecutive profitable quarters under its belt, this little Canadian company of only 600 people definitely deserves respect.
John Feld is the editor and publisher of PC Graphics Report.
This article was last modified on March 24, 2022
This article was first published on August 19, 2005
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