Adobe Attempting Takeover of Corel?

Drizzt sent us a link to a little blurb over at ZDNet that talks about Adobe Trying to Take over Corel. Interesting little bits there basically saying that Corel is trying to stall things. What would Adobe do with Corel? Would they continue to support Corel Apps on Linux? What of the Netwinder? Is Adobe afraid of The Gimp?

This sucks, let's hope it isn't true ...

[Dr. Crane]

Here's another Reuters story from a few days ago: Corel denies merger talks [lycos.com]

Let's hope that this article is right, but since Reuter's can't even get the name of Corel's CFO right, who knows!? I think if this merger were to take place it would be very bad news for the Linux support Corel has been promising.

Corel realizes that OS competition means increased software competition, does Adobe know this? If everyone in the commercial sector uses MS OSes the ability to sell software plummets, except for Microsoft ... anyways, getting off topic!

If true, bad

[davie]

Adobe snatched up Word for Word Pro, the only decent doc conversion tool on the market, released an all-in-one CD with the DOS, Mac, Windows (the worst Windows app I've ever used, BTW), and SCO versions (runs CLI or CUI under iBCS)--then didn't market it at all. They subsequently sold it off to INSO, who gutted it for the filters, which they included in some outrageously priced web design software and some other windows crap, then they dumped it. INSO keep promising to re-release the Word for Word product under some "Gold software" line, but I'm not holding my breath.

As far as rumors of this sort are concerned, almost every tech takeover rumor has had some weight. Even the Netscape takeover deal was shot down as a rumor, at first.

I'd be interested to learn if Adobe has any kind of relationship with Microsoft. Having a bean counter-, marketing weasel-driven company like Adobe snatch up Corel would be a nice way to get rid of a highly anticipated Linux office suite, as well as Linux versions of Draw and Photo-Paint (?), without drawing fire from the feds.

LOL!

[gavinhall]

Posted by Jimmy the Geek:

You could sell this rumor to the National Enquirer.

NO WAY.

Better question to ask....

"Who's going to buy Adobe?"

You guys better polish your crystal balls
better.

Macromedia FireWorks

[gavinhall]

Posted by antivert:

I've never used IntelliDraw, but those features sound similar to those in a recent product from Macromedia called FireWorks. Might want to check it out.

Adobe is evil.

[Brian Knotts]

FrameMaker for OS/2 was within weeks of shipping, then Adobe bought Frame, and cancelled the OS/2 version.

If they buy Corel, they *will* cancel all Linux versions of Corel software.

They are shills for Microsoft.

ZDNet needs to hire fact-checkers...

[Aleks]

Geez, and you believe everything you read at ZDNet... No, this is not true. According to today's MacNN.com, Corel is not in negotiations with Adobe regarding a takeover, nor it has any knowledge if such intentions exist.

What would anyone do with Corel?

[heroine]

A better question is what would anyone do with Corel? They don't have any software products making money. They don't have a call center pulling in money for support. They sold the Netwinder dog. They haven't had a new office program since 1996.

Not the first time they do that.

[red_dragon]

They did that with Aldus before. You know, Aldus, the ones who created PageMaker and gave a boost to the Macintosh desktop publishing market, who also had worthy competitors to Illustrator (Freehand) and Photoshop (PhotoStyler). So they took over PageMaker and dumped PhotoStyler and Freehand. And now Adobe doesn't have a clue. Monopolies suck.

We Don't Need No Steenkin Adobe.

[j0e]

I hate Adobe programs, sometimes I think of Adobe as the Microsoft of graphics. In colleges Adobe/Macs are use because "that is what is used".
And they're right, if you try to get a Corel Draw file printed it's very hard (at least in my area). They demand Adobe, Adobe, and nothing but the Adobe, on a Mac-formatted zip disk. Perhaps it's time to throw ext2 zips and XCF files at 'em. :)

Good or bad news?

[Bwana]

I don't know whether to be happy or concerned.
If this thing goes through, who knows what Adobe
has planned.


"Electric Relaxation" - ATCQ
Bwana McCall
[e-mail]

Corel poison pill

[RenQuanta]

Maybe the stockholders wouldn't be pleased, but if Adobe is going to buy Corel, it would be a good way to scuttle the ship before it happens. I'm sure Adobe has no interest in continuing the WordPerfect Office Suite. Make the whole thing GPL, and then the Linux community can finish what they started with the port of the entire suite.

My biggest fear is that something like this will kill WPSuite just before it gets ported, in its entirety, to Linux

PUHLEEZE

[cjsnell]

Don't flatter yourselves, people. I don't think Adobe gives a rats ass about The Gimp. The vast majority of professional artists use and will continue to use Adobe products. Adobe works on Macs, which most digital artists use because they are simple to use.

Adobe does not want buy Corel because of Corel's involvment with Linux. They want to buy Corel because Corel makes CorelDraw and Corel PhotoPaint, which are great competitors to Illustrator and Photoshop.

You linux zealots really get to me. So many of you think Linux is the end-all solution for everyone. Uhm, hello Betty, wake up! Most computer users aren't as smart as us unix users and really don't give a shit what OS they run.

Don't get me wrong, I like linux alright. Personally, I prefer FreeBSD and Solaris. I just realize that unix has its place (amongst techies) and that most companies and computer users have absolutely no need for it.

-cjs

SCARED ??!?

[foog]

grumble
Unix was largely written for DTP.
What do you think ed and nroff are for?
grumble grumble snicker snicker

no comparison

[aphr0]

I don't think there's any real comparison between the 2. Photoshop and the gimp are aimed at completely different audiences. Photoshop is aimed at professionals who are willing to pay a premium for the best photo software on the market and those who need heavy duty printing support. Whereas the gimp is aimed at coders and (mostly) non professionals who are interested in web graphics and such. Photoshop and the gimp have nothing to fear from each other any time soon. I'd say that even if Photoshop was available on linux, they would both thrive in their respective markets.

Not necessarily a bad thing

[Angst Badger]

Adobe is (excepting their high prices) one of the few commercial software companies I have an unalloyed liking for. Their software is well-designed, feature-rich, and as close to bug free as any large applications I have ever seen. Maybe they'll keep Draw! and clean out its impressive array of bugs and give it import/export filters and color matching that actually work.

Adobe afraid of the Gimp??

[Dast]

Heh. Doubt it. Now, don't get me wrong. I like and use the Gimp every day. But I don't think it is in any position to be a threat to Photoshop.

And besides, even tho Corel is porting apps to linux, this doensn't mean that they are supporting the Gimp. In fact, their Draw apps would be much more of a threat to Photoshop.

My opinion anyway.

Photoshop is already available on UNIX

[mattc]

Photoshop has been ported to the various UNIXes, just not Linux.

Bad News if True

[dirty]

The SGI version of photoshop is ancient, 3.0. I'm pretty sure adobe has completely scrapped their UNIX market, a really dumb move IMHO, but then again, I don't own a huge company so what do i know?

I just want Adobe's IP madness to end.

[jerodd]

I am very displeased with Adobe's protectionist behavior with regard to fonts. Even though courts have ruled time and again that you cannoy copyright a given mathematical font description or a bitmap font description, Adobe maintains a large legal staff to harass anyone who exercises their rights as detailed in the Constitution to share descriptions of letters of the alphabyte (AKA typefaces). For this reason alone, I wish for Adobe's soon death.

I should add that I can't find anything to substantiate this takeover rumor. The only purpose for this rumor would be to boost Corel's stock price. This kind of rumors in the information-technology industry are getting rather boring. It seems there is a new one every week.

Cheers,
Joshua.

I hope Corel keeps Fighting.

[johnnnyboy]

Corel is canada's largest software company.

Without Corel Canada's software industry will be demolished. Also , this would be one of the biggest disasters for linux! Corel is one of our largest supporter.

I really like the direction Corel is going. I predict big gains for Corel in the coming decade.

Adobe's scared of Gimp?
Corel sure ins't Copeland (CEO) actually commented on Gimp and said it's a great application!

First there was Microsoft and now there's Adobe.

Takeover attempt a *rumour*

[JR]

Check out this Ottawa Citizen [ottawacitizen.com] article. Both Adobe and Corel say that the takeover rumour is just that -- a rumour. Says Adobe, "there is no absolutely no truth to this whatsoever."