(snip) "And last week pc data, which tracks sales figures in the U.S., said Corel and its Coreldraw software has slipped to second place overall in the professional computer graphics market behind Adobe Systems. pc data figures also show Corel's WordPerfect software has less than six per cent of the market share, far behind the 91 per cent enjoyed by Microsoft Word. WordPerfect's retail market share has also tumbled to 30 per cent, down from the 50 per cent level reached early in 1997." (snip)
If the world is going to be using Java apps squirted through cable
modems, would not this company be an attractive buyout target...
by say Sun? Now that Microsoft seems to be a target of so much
criticism, I should think it would be attractive for somebody to go
head to head. People like to be different...if Microsoft as the Evil
Empire is the way people increasingly see the company, I should
think they'd rather have the Corel Suite on their PC.
Here is another thought--Microsoft splitting into independent
companies: The OS division, and the applications division. Til
that happens, COSFF seems like a real steal at these levels, on
speculation that it will be bought out.
Am I overestimating the brand name recognition of WordPerfect?
Or maybe I am underestimating the ease with which Java apps can
be created, and the probability that network entertainment computers
will replace desktop PC's. On that final thought, it seems to me the
only way computers will further penetrate US homes, is to make
them extremely easy to use, and locally configured apps
are NOT easy to use for 90% of the population. |
