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<title>Interview with Mike Cowpland, Corel Corporation LG #50</title>
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<H1><font color="maroon">Interview with Mike Cowpland, Corel Corporation</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:prakash@freeos.com">Prakash Advani</a></H4>
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</center>
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<BLOCKQUOTE> <EM>
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[Originally published on the FreeOS site as
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<A HREF="http://www.freeos.com/linux/interviews/mikecowpland.ephtml">
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http://www.freeos.com/linux/interviews/mikecowpland.ephtml</A>. Reprinted here
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at the author's request. -Ed.]
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</EM> </BLOCKQUOTE>
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<p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Dr. Michael Cowpland,
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president and CEO of <a href="http://www.corel.com">Corel</a> Corporation,
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hardly needs an introduction. An engineer by qualification, Dr Cowpland
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began his career at Bell Northern Research in 1964. In 1985, he founded
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Corel one of the largest software companies in the world.
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The company is now helping develop the fast growing Linux platform;
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in fact, Corel plans to port a majority of its applications to Linux.
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Mike Cowpland talks of his plans for Corel and his views on Linux to <a href="http://www.freeos.com">FreeOS.com</a>.
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</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>What is Corel doing with
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Linux?<br>
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</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Corel is
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basically offering really comprehensive solutions to Linux. We are doing more
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than any other company and are also providing complete connectivity to the Windows
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world. We have recently launched Corel Linux for the desktop. This is currently
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available in North America and can be downloaded from our Web site. We have
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made an extremely easy to use distribution that can be installed even quicker
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than Windows. The user can also connect seamlessly to the all the Windows files
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on the network including Microsoft public files. With the announcement that
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we made a few weeks ago, he can also connect to Windows applications to run
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those. If someone has the legacy applications that they want to connect and
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still enjoy the benefits of Linux, they can do that by having a single application
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server serving up the group. So you can have a cluster of Linux desktops and
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one Windows NT server and they can all load up their Windows applications from
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there and while using their own native Linux applications on the desktop. So
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that provides a complete solution where we provide the basic software, which
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is the browser, the office suite and the graphic suite. Then they may have their
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human resource or accounting software that they still have on Windows. They
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can run on their server without having to run them on the desktop.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Will Corel become a Linux
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company in the near future?<br>
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</b>Well, we are already very heavily a Linux company. That is supported by
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the fact that we are we are the most popular download on the Web. If you look
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at CNET the number one download site, we have been the number one Linux download
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consistently so effectively we are already a Linux company. We are introducing
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our Linux suite very shortly and that would give us more exposure and capability
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in Linux. </font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Where do you see Linux
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5 years from now?<br>
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</b>In 5 years, Linux will become the more dominant operating system in terms
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of Unix. Windows will be more involved with back-end applications like it is
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today.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Why did Corel decide
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to develop its own distribution rather than adopting or embracing an existing
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one?<br>
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</b>We did look at several distributions but found them very limited. They were
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difficult to install and use and required an expert, which we did not find acceptable.
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In Linux, when something is not happening, the best thing is to do it yourself
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and that is exactly what we did. As compared to any other distribution, we received
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the highest rating of 9 from CNET in addition to being CNET's Editor's Choice,
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whereas Red Hat has received a rating of 8.</font></p>
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<p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Corel is primarily known
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as a company developing Graphic suites and Office suites. Does this give a feeling
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that Corel is losing its focus of developing applications?</font></b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
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</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Not really, a tremendous
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amount of User Interface has been worked at with programs such as CorelDraw.
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In Linux, it is a world team effort with each organization doing what its best
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at. The kernel is still being developed by the kernel people and we simply use
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it. We don't have to reduplicate that work. We are best at the user interface
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and we are doing that. With our 50 million Windows users worldwide we have very
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rich experience with that. We have made the user interface really easy to use
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and the fact that our distribution has been well received proves it.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Corel has been a Windows
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developers and is now a Linux developer. Does it affect your relationship with
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Microsoft?<br>
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</b>We have always had a good relationship with Microsoft and continue to do
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so. We use Visual Basic and they use our components. We can focus in certain
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other areas, which I think in some ways it is going to be good for Microsoft.
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They are, as you know, getting hammered for being a monopoly. Microsoft will
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do better when they have competition OS around.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>What do you think is
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better. Being a Linux Developer or being a Windows developer?<br>
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</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">We
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actually like being a multi-platform developer. Otherwise one company has too
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much control over computer manufacturers - they can dictate terms. They can
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insist that you bundle certain things or put logos in certain places, which
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Microsoft has been known to do. I don't think that's good for anybody. Being
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in the multi-platform world is healthier while maintaining connectivity, because
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you don't want to have different islands which cannot talk to each other. We
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consider connectivity as the biggest thing that Corel is doing for Linux. We
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have our Windows experience and while we don't expect Windows to go away, we
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do expect Linux to be just as important as Windows. Much of the work that we
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will be doing on applications will be shared between the platforms.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>How is Corel helping
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the Linux community?</b><br>
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</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">We have been doing
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work with Corel Linux in the GPL or Mozilla open source licenses. The Wine work
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that we are doing is been put back into the community. The Corel File Manager,
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all of which we wrote ourselves, has been put back into the community. We are
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actually very supportive of the open source concept. On the applications side
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we don't see those as being open source because there are dozens and dozens
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of third party utilities that we select, tune-up and include. That's what makes
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a very rich applications because the core software is only part of the source.
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It is the other utilities that make them useful. As we have to pay royalties
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for many of these, its impossible to give them free.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Which are the big vendors
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who have agreed to pre-install Corel Linux on their systems?</b><br>
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PC Chips, that makes more motherboards than anybody else is installing Corel
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Linux as we speak. We are working with other big vendors too which we will make
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announcements over the next 6 months. I think a lot of end-user computer manufacturers
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are waiting for applications such as Corel's office applications and graphic
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applications to be available before they can really offer a consumer product.
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We will have those available soon and we expect them to make announcements then.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>There are some installation-related
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issues regarding Corel Linux 1.0. What is Corel doing about those?<br>
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</b>There are some issues regarding legacy hardware such as ISA, which has not
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been as automated as the latest Bus. The fact is that developers are now focusing
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on the high volume situation first. It will take a lot before it can cover every
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legacy hardware and this is typical of any Linux distribution.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Corel had the Netwinder
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Project, which for some reason did not take-off and Corel decided to spin it
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off. What was the reason behind that?<br>
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</b>The project has divested to rebel.com, and we are an active partner there.
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They are doing very well and just went through a private round of financing.
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They have a product similar to Cobalt, which has a market capitalization of 3-4
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billion US$. We are very happy with our 25% ownership of rebel that we got in
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the Netwinder project. We just felt it was better off as a separate company
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because hardware does require a separate focus.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Will Corel do something
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similar with Corel Linux?<br>
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</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">No,
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because we are enabling 90% of the work between Windows applications
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and Linux applications and to some extent Macintosh applications. That is more
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proficient than other companies doing both Linux applications and Windows applications.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Are all Corel applications
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going to be available for Linux? <br>
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</b>Yes, absolutely. We are also considering acquisition of other applications of
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Windows to port over to Linux, to make our portfolio even more complete. We
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are also looking at companies who have a dual platform strategy. It is easier
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to buy technologies than to buy the whole company in a non-exclusive way.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><i>(Mike Cowpland refused
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to give any further details about the companies that they plan to or are considering
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to acquire. Said it was too pre-mature to discuss this now.)</i></font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Corel Office for Linux
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was expected by the year-end of 1999? Apart from Word Perfect none of the other
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applications are ported to Linux yet. What is the progress on that?</b><br>
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It should be available in beta form in a week's time and that's very close to
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year-end.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>What about the competition
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to your office suite from Star Office?<br>
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</b>The downloads of their office suite are running at 10% of our volumes which
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is not very competitive. If you look at Sun's history of software it has been
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dismal. Even now people complain that they are not even freeing up Java. IBM
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is very upset that they are charging 3% license fees for anybody using Java
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program. Sun's history on software has been the pits.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>What would happen if
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Microsoft office were available for Linux?<br>
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</b>That would be good for the industry. More the applications on Linux, the
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better. In fact we are working on that. With our GraphOn Bridges you will be
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able to run Microsoft applications on Corel Linux without Microsoft having to
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do any work. You still have to pay Microsoft's license but it will enable people
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to rely on Linux without giving up on their favorite Windows applications.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Both Microsoft and Sun
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are offering their office suites over the servers with the concept of application
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service providers. What are Corel's plans?<br>
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</b>We are doing that too. We have an offering for ASP's as that provides very
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low cost of ownership.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Does Corel plan to sell
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computers with Linux and Corel apps preinstalled?<br>
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</b>No we would rather work with partners to do that.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>There have been some
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controversies about the Corel Linux licensing which wasn't 100% GPL?<br>
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</b>Even Richard Stallman has been happy with our license. Being a big commercial
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company, we have to be more careful of copyright than other smaller companies.
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We had certain terms, which had to be introduced to ensure that everything was
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legal.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Will Corel support other
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free operating systems in the future?<br>
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</b>No. We think it is important to focus on Linux, as it is clearly the one.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>There were some talks
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about Red Hat taking over Corel, is that going to happen?<br>
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</b>No, I don't think they would do that, because Red Hat is a much smaller
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company than Corel. They have only 40-50 developers where as we have got 800
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developers. We understand the Windows market, Red Hat does not.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>What if it happens?<br>
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</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">It
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is not going to happen (laughs).</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>If you had a choice to
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be taken over by a company, which company would you prefer?<br>
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</b>None (laughs).</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>How does Corel plan to
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make money out of the open source model?<br>
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</b>Corel has always been known to offer enormous value for money and thereby
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the paradigm suits us very well. If you put a software in a box along with a
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manual, it typically costs between 50 and 100 US$ and that's what an upgrade
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sells for. It is really no different to our Windows model. The only difference
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is that you get a good CD in the market with free downloads and that's why we
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have had 2 million Word Perfect downloads, the number one rate of free download
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of Corel Linux.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">In my point of view, it
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is very similar to the Windows model. It goes even faster and you still make
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money on the boxes because some people don't want to wait for the downloads.
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They want the CD and the manuals or they want the extra bells and whistles such
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as the high level of support or may be some more bells and whistles such as
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content. For example, on our Web site we have 50,000 images but if you want
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to access 2 million then you have to join up and pay 30 US$ a year as
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subscription. So it fits into a subscription model. We are looking at the Web
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site as a revenue generator and are keen to develop a lot more traffic to our
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portal <a href="http://www.corelcity.com">Corelcity.com</a>.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Is Corel's Web site powered
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by Corel Linux?<br>
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</b>Some part of it is on Solaris and Window NT, but the trend would be towards
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moving to Corel Linux.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>What are Corel's plans
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for India?<br>
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</b>We are optimistic about the potential of the Indian market and are very
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very keen on it. It is a huge market and English is commonly used. We also think
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India is natural for Linux because it needs computers at the lowest possible
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cost. Why would they want to pay the high price of Windows when they don't have
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to? At the same time it is full of computer scientist who can improve Linux
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because they have access to the source code. So India can become a major contributor
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to Linux since they can all see the source code, use the source code and be
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a part of the improvement. So it's much more exciting for India than simply
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being a part of Microsoft's monopoly.</font></p>
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<EM>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Do you have any interesting
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questions to Mike Cowpland which haven't been answered in this interview? Send
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an email to <a href="mailto:prakash@freeos.com">Prakash Advani</a> and the top
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5 questions will be forwarded to Mike Cowpland.</font></p>
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<P> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
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<A HREF="http://Freeos.com">Freeos.com</A> islooking for people who can
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provide news, articles and updates to our the Web site. If you are interested
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in contributing in any way please e-mail <A
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HREF="mailto:prakash@freeos.com">prakash@freeos.com</A>.
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</EM>
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
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Copyright © 2000, Prakash Advani<BR>
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Published in Issue 50 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, February 2000</H5>
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