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[News] Microsoft and Corel go into allianceANN.lu
Posted on 03-Oct-2000 18:23 GMT by Teemu I. Yliselä25 comments
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In a bit of a shock announcement, Microsoft and the supposed Amiga Inc-partner Corel have entered a strategic partnership targetting Microsoft's new .Net platform. Microsoft has also bought $135 million worth of Corel stocks, which seems to be effectively saving Corel from imminent bankruptcy. The partnership will see Corel products ported to the .Net platform. Here's the ZDNet article.

Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 1 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Teemu I. Yliselä on 02-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
It seems this has everything to do with the recent resignation of Corel's alternative-friendly CEO.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 2 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Ben on 02-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
What good would Corel be to Amiga if they were about to go bankrupt anyway??!!
Admittedly it is a shame to see them pulled into the MS camp, but Corel were always a bit of a dodgy lot anyway IMHO.
;)
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 3 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by m0ns00n on 02-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Remember that Corel needs WI(s)NE (wine is specially not a windows emulator)
in their Linux apps! Must we have this on the new Amie platform too!? Good
Gawd! I'd hate to use that Windows interface on my new miga.
Buhuu!
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 4 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by torsten on 02-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Corel NEEDED the money. Microsoft has money. They didn't have much of a choice. Even Apple didn't reject the offer a few years ago, so why should Corel do?
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 5 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Amifan on 02-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Well...it's the Microsoft policy. If you want something just buy it. And it's a bargain too.
This is what happens to the AmigaNG IF it becomes a thread to Windows or the X-box.
They just buy AmigaInc.
Easy as that.
AmigaNG!? No chance!
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 6 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by XDelusion on 02-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Well there apps are pretty big, maybe we should look elseware for Word Processing and Paint packages?
Uuugghhhh, I hate to see people sign deals with Microshaft, it is like watching someone sign a pact with the devil, only the devil plays a little more fare. I can't stand it.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 7 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by ACGregory on 02-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Didn't Corel have software that ran on Linux? Could this be MS buying
"experience" with Linux? So you can fold Linux into Windows and have the
best of both worlds (I am using the word "best" advisedly). If Amiga is
to succeed it needs to resist MS, and if it runs on multiple processors,
not to mention multiple parallel processors, it may have an edge, since no
software coder will want to write for a closed system like Wintel or Lintel as
the parent companies could just write code for their OS that could exclude
your program and use only their "approved" OS programs....
This will be interesting, but I hope I will never have to be a "cloned computer using humanoid".....
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 8 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by gary_c on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 7 (ACGregory):
Yes, the news story I saw said that Corel's Linux experience was one thing Microsoft wanted from the deal. Also they said Corel would be able to help their ".NET" project. But other commentators said this might also be an attempt by Microsoft to keep their "competitors" alive during the appeal stage of their trial, just as they did earlier with Apple, so they wouldn't seem to be as monopolistic.
I doubt if this means much for Amiga, mainly because I didn't expect much from Corel to begin with. The connection with Corel always seemed more PR than technology to me ( --just my opinion). Linux was the common link in this "partnership" so whether there continues to be a Corel association with Amiga probably depends on how strongly Corel continues with Linux. The Microsoft investment didn't give them voting rights (with something like 25% of Corel's stock), but there will probably be certain "understandings" about competing with MS products.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 9 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Jofre Furtado, Jr. on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Well, it looks like Microsoft beat us again with the one thing they've always had more of-- money. Amiga, it seems, was doomed to stay poor and probably will stay that way if they don't release something sometime this century. Who wants to bet that Microsoft will just take things and dismantel Corel? The Linux craze is still a part of Amiga's future as well because of all the ports we can get; however, the fact remains- we had our vision waaaaaayyyyyy before any of these companies in Linux, JAVA, RTOS's, etc... It's sad that we'll be last place AGAIN in getting into the market. I'm so sick of this shit. I still know, as an Amigan, that Ami will be superior and I'll buy it, but I will NOT by the Amiga native system no matter how much better it is. I've waited for years to buy a new Amiga, but I'm going to buy a loaded Compaq Presario instead because: 1) It's real and exists, 2) It will run Ami, and 3) I have been using x86 garbage in the Amiga's absense for so long that I have popular titles in software that I can only run on these machines and I'd RATHER USE THEM BECUSE THEY ARE BETTER than most Amiga apps now. That goes even for video editing.
No one is going to care about the Amiga's when they've already bought Microsoft's or Gateway's latest products (which we all KNOW will be released before the AmigaONE).
It's sad really that now all I want from Amiga is the new ActiveX commands that Ami will offer me to run on top of WindowsME.
I guess we'll be using budget software like StarOffice, huh...? Yeah, it reads all popular formats (sort of), but it's way undeveloped and it sucks- trying to be your whole computer by taking over as the browser, publisher, spreadsheeter, web designer, graphics manipulator, and word processor.
I'll tell you, Amiga is going to have one hell of a tough time impressing me. They (the company, not the specific staff) have lost Corel twice now to the Wintel platform- this is really sad...
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 10 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Jofre Furtado, Jr. on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Well, it looks like Microsoft beat us again with the one thing they've always had more of-- money. Amiga, it seems, was doomed to stay poor and probably will stay that way if they don't release something sometime this century. Who wants to bet that Microsoft will just take things and dismantel Corel? The Linux craze is still a part of Amiga's future as well because of all the ports we can get; however, the fact remains- we had our vision waaaaaayyyyyy before any of these companies in Linux, JAVA, RTOS's, etc... It's sad that we'll be last place AGAIN in getting into the market. I'm so sick of this shit. I still know, as an Amigan, that Ami will be superior and I'll buy it, but I will NOT by the Amiga native system no matter how much better it is. I've waited for years to buy a new Amiga, but I'm going to buy a loaded Compaq Presario instead because: 1) It's real and exists, 2) It will run Ami, and 3) I have been using x86 garbage in the Amiga's absense for so long that I have popular titles in software that I can only run on these machines and I'd RATHER USE THEM BECUSE THEY ARE BETTER than most Amiga apps now. That goes even for video editing.
No one is going to care about the Amiga's when they've already bought Microsoft's or Gateway's latest products (which we all KNOW will be released before the AmigaONE).
It's sad really that now all I want from Amiga is the new ActiveX commands that Ami will offer me to run on top of WindowsME.
I guess we'll be using budget software like StarOffice, huh...? Yeah, it reads all popular formats (sort of), but it's way undeveloped and it sucks- trying to be your whole computer by taking over as the browser, publisher, spreadsheeter, web designer, graphics manipulator, and word processor.
I'll tell you, Amiga is going to have one hell of a tough time impressing me. They (the company, not the specific staff) have lost Corel twice now to the Wintel platform- this is really sad...
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 11 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Karajorma on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 8 (gary_c):
I`m not much of an expert in law but since MS have bought non-voting stock can`t corel just stick two fingers up at them and do whatever they like?
I mean what are MS going to do? Even if they made a secret deal to not compete MS aren`t going to reveal that considering the damage it would do to their anti-trust suit (especially since they`re getting one in europe as well soon).
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 12 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Per Jonsson on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 6 (XDelusion):
Even MS has signed a pact with the catolic (sp?) church in Mexico, strange church signing pact with the devil :-) They want to sign with the pope too... Where will it end?
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 13 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by John B on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Microsofts .NET is supposed to be very similar to the concept
of AMI. They can afford to buy partners, but it doesn't help
in the long run. Looks like Apples gonna be back for more...
Wintels history. The future for Microsoft is Unix of some flavor
like the rest. They just won't call it Linux. Maybe we'll see
AMI.NET :^)
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 14 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Delphi on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
So we probably can`t count on Corel for supporting the New Amiga, I suppose...
Luckily for me I wasn`t exactly looking forward to their applications.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 15 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Trizt on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
I guess this is good news for Corel, but for Amiga it ain't that good as most of ous old users are all to anti-m$ and anti-x86, for not loosing all to much support from old users I think Amiga Inc should announce the break with Corel and name a new partner. There don't seem to be many others, but what about Sun and their StarOffice? Maybe with a partner they may think it worth to develope StarOffice more, and maybe we would see a SDK which runs on solaris/SunOS within a few weeks.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 16 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Spudley on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Didn't they do exactly the same for Apple a while back?
The company was on the ropes, and Microsoft dived in and bought up a large chunk of the company to rescue it.
I recall at the time there was speculation that they were trying to save Apple, to make them seem like less of a monopoly. Since then of course, Apple have bounced back quite impressively. I have no idea how much that has to do with M$'s shareholding, though.
Now look at this deal with Corel. Again, M$ are buying into their nearest competitor; this time in the word processor market (among other things).
At the end of the day though, Corel really didn't have a choice. They were on the ropes, and they knew it. M$ offered them a way out, and they really had to take it. It's a real shame it came to that, and an even bigger shame that it was M$ that made the offer, but I certainly don't blame them.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 17 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by sutro on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Amiga has made many mistakes in the past choosing partnerships with the wrong side (e.g. Transmeta)
I wish they followed Sun-Motorola-IBM path from the beginning.
I wasn't thrilled with Corel on the first place. They had always been Wintel advocates.
It was a shock when they tried to go Linux a few years ago but it was clearly where their roots are.
AFAIK the partnership with Corel was made in Colas' days. The move to Redhat showed that Corel will
not have anything to do with AmigaNG.
sutro
P.S. M$'s .NET will be history in a few months when no-one develops for it.
M$ has lost the war with Sun and they can't do anything right now. It would be
better for them to just develop applications for the Linux platform but they simply don't have the know-how.
They will have to persuade all Universities and researchers of the world that their solution is better than Java.
Anyway, who cares ?
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 18 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by DanDude on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Alert the markets -- Microsoft is attempting to monopolize again. 1st it's
Apple giving in, now Corel.
Terrible mistake.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 19 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Pnarcisse on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 18 (DanDude):
This is just a case of MS protecting it's self from Anti Trust suit. Think about it? if Apple a few years ago would have gone belly up How do you think the trial would have Gone for MS. And not to mention INtel. Both would have been declared MOnopolies and the Suprem court would have no chocie but to expidite the case and legally break the wintel world up. With no othe real competition to it's office products MS knows that if Corel goes Belly up they would be seen as the evil empire that cause it. With states and the goverment breathing down his neck BIll knows that MS time is short so now he will try to play hero to save his own neck. Now think what if sun annouced that it is on the ropes or IBM will gates also jump in and pump millions into them? This type of tactic is only time buying Corel has no real proudct to compete againts MS Word perfect? what's That? MS has dug it's own grave. they crushed everyone out there forgetting that once the do that they had to face the biggest and baddest competitor out there. The US Goverment.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 20 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by XDelusion on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
First off I am not worried so much about .NET, what is this Microshaft's own little Java kit? I don't think it will go far, Sun is the master of the Java world, and we all know Sun hates Microshaft.
As for them conjuring there own little version of Linux, well Linux's X is already large, bulky, buggy, and slow, so Microshaft and there apps should feel right at home. I suppose Microshaft could really make use of Linux's kernal though, and if they were to design a version of Linux that was easier to use, ya, know like point and click to do everything, then they may have something, but then again, didn't Apple just do this? A little late Microshaft....
As for me, when I use Linux now a days, I don't install X, just a rule, so i could care less about all this crap anyhow, I haver decided not to run AmiOS ontop of Linux cause X is too damn slow, I might as well just run AmiOS by itself, and pray that they have there video drivers down as well as Winblows does, cause this slow GUI crap, and no Hardware acceleration sucks big, that is exactly the main thing holding back BeOS, or one of them anyhow.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 21 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Mousky on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 11 (Karajorma):
Sure Corel can say "screw you" to MS, but MS would never give up a penny without something in return. In this case, Corel will develop software for Microsofts' .NET development platform.
MS skirts any potential legal problems vis-a-vis control of competitors by purchasing non-voting stocks. This way, technically speaking, they have no control or ability to 'control' Corel. Besides, if Corel pissed MS off, MS could sue for violation of their "agreement" and/or dump the stock at a loss - what is a $135 million write-off to MS?
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 22 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by mousky on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 18 (DanDude):
Buying some non-voting stock from a competitor in return for a development agreement hardly constitutes monopolistic behaviour. It makes perfect business and accounting sense, more so should MS be legislated to break up into two or more companies.
First, investing via stock enables MS to list the stocks as assets on their balance sheet. Yes, they could have loaned the money, but you can't keep increasing outstanding loans without affecting your bottom line. Second, it looks better when buying non-voting stock, since MS will not be able to directly "control" a company. Third, should MS be broken up, that equity in other companies could be transferred to a non-competing newly-formed Baby MS.
Just some food for thought.
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 23 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
It seems to me that most people on this list already believe that AmigaNG will fail, and conveniently, now that MS have bought into _one_ company that _may_ release a _small_ number of applications for the AmigaNG, they have a scapegoat.. and what better a scapegoat than Microsoft?
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 24 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Bobbie Sellers on 03-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 10 (Jofre Furtado, Jr.):
Just because Corel has gotten some investment from Microsoft seems no
reason to be so down. So Corel developes for .net. Doesn't mean they
won't be free to develop for Ami. 1000 employees at Corel seems like
plenty to go around for future work.
People seem to be assuming too that Linux will be needed in the final
Ami D/E which is a fallacy from everything I have read.
I'd rather have Microsoft put good money into a company than have
Amiga Inc. digging up the cash to keep Corel in business.
later
bliss
Microsoft and Corel go into alliance : Comment 25 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by Brian H on 04-Oct-2000 22:00 GMT
Corel is a USELESS partnership for Amiga without money. This could be the kind
of injection that they need to get back to creating quality software, and stop
worrying about paying bills...
Remember when Microsoft helped Apple out with something like $130 million
a while back in return for a partnership?
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