Corel Rolls Out Small-Business WordPerfect Suite

WordPerfect Mail, as the client is dubbed, includes spam filters, a contact manager, and handles RSS feeds, said the Ottawa-based company. It's based on Bloomba, an e-mail client created by Stata Labs. Stata was acquired in October, 2004, by Yahoo.

According to Corel, WordPerfect Mail can send and receive messages from any ISP or server that supports POP3 or IMAP, including Microsoft Exchange.

The new bundle--an addition to the line that already features Student and Teacher, Home, Standard, and Professional versions--is aimed at businesses with fewer than 50 PCs, said Corel. The company is also touting its low price--starting at $179--as an alternative to Microsoft Office, which owns the lion's share of the suite market. WordPerfect Office 12 Small Business Edition is "a huge value," said Richard Carriere, Corel's general manager for office productivity.

Small Business Edition is available now for $179 to those upgrading from previous versions of WordPerfect, or from competing products; the full version costs $349.

In comparison, Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003 lists for $279 in the upgrade version, and $449 for the full version.