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Technology Stocks : Corel Corp. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: A. Reader who wrote (7896)	12/7/1999 8:46:00 AM
From: Kip518	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9798

Briefing.com 14:53 ET ****** Corel (CORL) 17 1/2 +1 5/16 : At Briefing.com, we are constantly looking for signs of the new era of "Application Service Providers" where software becomes more of a service than a product. So far, there are few real examples. Most people are looking for ASPs in the B2B space. But a press release mid-day today contained an interesting example of Corel as a cross between ecommerce and ASP services, in the B2C space. Although the press release was issued by Open Market (OMKT) and talked about how Corel has licensed the Transact ecommerce product, the release talked about what Corel will be doing with the Transact product, and that's where the interesting parts are. First, Corel will offer Linux free, as a download (they already do this - They also sell it in a box, like Red Hat does.) But Corel will also provide hosted storage for web sites, on a monthly basis. Need a lot of storage space for your in-home web server? Lease it, don't buy it. It just becomes links across the web. A good way for do-it-yourselfers (plenty of those in the Linux world) to have large web sites. In addition, Corel will offer an interesting new concept: customized logo products. Works like this: Make your own pictures on the web, through Java based graphics tools derived from Corel products, then have that drawing reproduced onto a T-Shirt, Coffee Cup, or other item that Corel sells you. Frankly, this strikes us as brilliant. This type of service already exists in the non-online world, but now the internet will make it easier, and probably, cheaper. It is also something that kids (the future of the net) will enjoy: "Hey, Mom, look what I made for you! (with Dad's credit card). Not exactly what we thought of as an "ASP" a month ago, but it is one of the first real examples for consumers, and therefore deserves a closer look. Corel, which was kind of a boring also-ran during the software revolution, is looking pretty innovative lately, in the internet revolution. They now are a little bit of all of the following: Software application vendor (modest, old-world), Linux vendor (new world, but dubious revenue long term), Linux application vendor (mixed possibilities), ASP (real opportunities). An interesting mix that makes Corel worth watching closely. -