Here in the United States, it is Thanksgiving. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for and I will be enjoying the day away from work with friends. I also want to give thanks to you, my loyal readers, for constantly sending me notes of thanks for the content I provide to you. Corel may also be giving thanks after making a deal that could have saved the company. First, read the article from PC World. For those who don’t wish to take the time to read it, Corel has agreed to sell all of their outstanding stock to Vector Capital. Vector is the same company that took Corel private in 2003 and took them public again in 2006. Prior to this deal, Vector already owned 68 percent of the outstanding stock.
I did a series of blog posts a few months back with my personal marketing ideas for Corel. Links to each of them is provided below.
- The State of Corel Corporation
- Add Publishing Tool to CorelDRAW Suite
- Get CorelDRAW in the Schools
- Convert the Pirates
- Support Third Parties
- Develop More Specialized Versions
- A Recap of Marketing Suggestions for Corel
Since I wrote each of those posts, very little has changed. I will give credit to Corel for finally updating the “Learning Resources” page so that various third-party CorelDRAW training aids are listed. I’m sure the time it took to get clearance for this far exceeded the 5-10 minutes it took to update the page. Also note that all of the “Buy Now” links provided allow you to buy the products from Corel so that both they and the third parties earn some money. So this change will help Corel every bit as much as the third parties. A true win-win situation.
Some of you may be concerned that we’ve seen the last version of CorelDRAW. That definitely won’t be the case. I will ask every user to look at their own situation. If you have a “borrowed” version of CorelDRAW, isn’t it time you became legal and purchased a copy? If you haven’t upgraded for a few versions, maybe it is time for you to upgrade. If Corel is to continue development, they have to finance the development and that means people need to buy the software. I will remind you that Corel has some great pricing on CorelDRAW right now, so there is not a better time to buy. I will also reiterate the offer I have on the table. Anyone who takes advantage of Corel’s Black Friday sale using the above link before the end of the sale (the end of November 2009) simply needs to send me their order number and their address to receive the complete collection of CorelDRAW Unleashed magazines for free. This does not apply if you purchased any time other than during this sale.
If you wish to purchase other Corel products, you’ll also find some of them are on sale for Black Friday. In addition, you can use the coupon code of “UNLEASHED12” to save 10% on products that aren’t on sale. A list of links to other Corel products can be found at the bottom of the Graphics Unleashed home page.
I wish there were cheery news to support, but we don’t have to take this as a negative either. We, the users, need to continue to support Corel Corporation by buying new versions. We also need to encourage others to use CorelDRAW. We can only do so much, so I also encourage Corel Corporation to take a very serious look at their marketing and improve it. Several years of poor marketing have led to the current state of affairs. Let’s all join together and give CorelDRAW a push. Next year we can celebrate the great revival over our Thanksgiving dinner!
I have been a long-time and very loyal user and BUYER of Corel Draw and have thus supported the company to the fullest of my capabilities. However, Corel does NOT support me in the slightest when I have a problem. A successful and long-lasting relationship has to be based on reciprocity – an ingredient sorely missing with Corel. In the long run any such relationship will not survive even under the best of circumstances.
I have used Corel Since v.3 and the same main trouble in my mind continues. It is very unstable. I own Suite X4 because some things I love, but a few things I also hate. Freezing, bits of the file that I have to hit Control/w to clean up the screen,the Open Backup copy on opening Corel Draw? Too many problems for most people to put up with, especially with Serif and
Xara much more stable. I also gave up years ago a sking for help online. I still am waiting for help on Corel 3. I don’t think I have any help coming. Adobe always answers.
Carl,
You mention unstability and that’s just not a problem I’ve regularly seen in the twenty years I’ve been using CorelDRAW. It is not uncommon for me to go well over a week or more without a single crash. I don’t remember the last time I opened the “backup” copy. In fact, I immediately turn off the feature that saves the backup.
You say you have been waiting for help on Corel 3. You do realize it is almost twenty years old so there is no one using that version any more? There are many places online where users are getting help every day on the current versions. While Corel has problems, I don’t feel they are the problems you describe.