Corel Plans Unified Publishing Product

Corel hopes to put its troubles behind it with a unified publishing offering that will prep content for both online and print media.

To develop the software, the company will combine its existing Ventura publishing technology and graphics expertise with newly acquired XML expertise, says Corel CEO Derek Burney. The XML talent came with Corel's acquisition of SoftQuad Software. The stock deal, worth an estimated $37 million, was announced August 7.

Electronic catalog creation will be a primary market, Burney says. He estimates that e-catalogs represent a $6 billion business.

Publishing kingpin Adobe Systems, offers different tools to prepare content for Web sites and for print.

Corel has been on a buying binge of late. On July 16, the company said it would acquire Micrografx, a Richardson, Texas, maker of technical illustration software, in a $32 million stock deal. Going forward, Corel will focus Micrografx on the technical professional end of the graphics market and aim CorelDraw at "creative" end users, Burney says.

Last year, Corel, which had made a name for itself in drawing and illustration software for Microsoft Windows, tried to reposition itself as a Linux player. Not only did it create Linux versions of its WordPerfect suite, it also came out with its own Linux distribution, which some critics called a misstep. "Why would Red Hat support Linux applications if they come from a rival distribution company?" asked one Linux partisan. At one point under former CEO Michael Cowpland, Corel had even dabbled in the hardware business.

Last October, Microsoft bought a 24 percent stake in Corel for $135 million. Ironically, Corel's WordPerfect suite had suffered from intense competition with Microsoft's market-leading Office suite. As part of the investment, Corel agreed to develop applications for Microsoft's .Net strategy.

Since that time, Corel has de-emphasized Linux, the open-source operating system that competes with Windows. A Corel spokesman said the company is trying to sell off that business.

Burney says Corel's decision to spin off the Linux business had nothing to do with Microsoft's investment. In fact, he says, that was the last thing Microsoft would have wanted, "given how it would look. But I had to do what's best for my company."

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