Financial Post Article - Microsoft responds to Corel threat.
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Wednesday, April 9, 1997
Microsoft responds to Corel threat
Says it's finding ways to make software more nimble without Java language
By JILL VARDY
Technology Reporter The Financial Post
OTTAWA-Just days after Corel Corp. launched its first test Java software with great fanfare, rival Microsoft Corp. came to town with its own plans to circumvent the Java craze.
Jon Reingold, Microsoft's vice-president of desktop applications marketing, told an Ottawa technology conference yesterday that Microsoft is finding ways to make software more nimble without Java, a universal programming language that promises to revolutionize the way people write and use software.
Corel has already offered for free a test version of its Office for Java software on the Corel website. The company was honored by Java creator Sun Microsystems Inc. last week for being one of the first to come up with commercial Java applications.
Software written in Java can be read on all computers, regardless of their operating systems. Independent analysts have predicted that by the end of 1998, more people will be using Java than Windows 95 or Windows NT, Microsoft's two most recent operating systems.
That's bad news for Microsoft, whose success has been based on proprietary applications for its widely used Windows 3.1, 95 and NT.
Reingold acknowledged yesterday that Corel's Java strategy is at least part of the reason for the new strategy. Corel and Microsoft compete directly in the market for office productivity software, such as word processing, presentation and spreadsheet programs.
"Corel is a really fine competitor that's keeping us on our toes," Reingold said.
While Microsoft's Office 97 suite of software has outpaced expected sales since it was launched in January, Reingold said the company is working to make future versions of Office more customized for users who don't want a huge program filling up their computer memory.
"We're breaking it into smaller grains . . . to increase performance and customization," he said.
The promise of skinnier programs has been one of the attractions of Java. Programs written in that language take up much less computer memory than those written for the Windows platform.
Microsoft is also making more use of hyper-text markup language (HTML), a software code that allows documents to be sent across the Internet and be read by almost any computer program, fax or printer.
The move will help make Office documents easier to send across different computer platforms, he said.
"We are very aggressively embracing HTML as far as Office goes," Reingold said.
Also in the works are new features that will allow Microsoft users to more easily manage the glut of information sent to them through e-mail, computer networking and the Internet, Reingold said.
Reingold also didn't rule out Microsoft's use of Java to improve its flagship software products. When asked if customers will ever see a Microsoft Office for Java, Reingold replied, "I don't know. It depends. What we're trying to do is look at the compete picture of what customers want and what is the best way to deliver."
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