corel

Safe and dependable software old-timers WordPerfect and WinZip have been bestowed with some upgrades. WordPerfect gets a major overhaul with Version X4, while WinZip's 11.2 adds some new features to the program, the first update in a year.

You can read the full CNET Reviews analysis of WordPerfect X4 here, but in short, it's a good, solid improvement on what has gone before in the suite even if it is cost-prohibitive and not quite as spiffy as one would hope. It's able to gracefully handle more than 60 document formats, including the nascent Open Document Format, … Read more

The HD format war may be over, but don't tell Corel. The company's WinDVD 9 software plays both Blu-ray and the now-defunct HD DVD format--perfect for those few Windows PCs with HD combo drives, such as the HP Pavilion Slimline S3330f. The software supports the full range of features for both formats, including their next-gen audio soundtracks (Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD), Blu-ray Profile 1.1 (picture-in-picture commentaries), and--while it lasts--Web-enabled "In Movie Experience" features on HD DVDs.

WinDVD 9 is available Tuesday in three versions. The entry-level version ($50) handles standard DVD movies, along with … Read more

Design collaboration service ConceptShare, which turns one years old next month, has launched the second version of its service today, along with an all new branded version for CorelDRAW users called CorelDRAWConceptShare.

We originally checked out its core service back in late November, and with today's release, the company has focused specifically on UI improvements to help its users get work done with "less clicks" than before. The new version also gives users more vertical workspace, to suit the needs of design users with vertical display configurations who previously had to make due with the mostly landscape-centric … Read more

As discs slowly succumb to the portable drive, rippers and burners have been forced to diversify. Merely ripping and burning well will lead to crashing and burning badly: customers want to see something tech-relevant. Corel's DVD Copy 6 focuses heavily on file format conversion, and for $50 it offers a wide range of source and target compatibility including iPods and PSPs.

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Corel Painter Essentials 4, available for both Windows and Mac, combines the resources of a Photoshop with the carte blanche of a art studio program, but without the attitude of either. The end result is something that's more appropriate for people looking to either paint or artistically tweak their photos and to have fun doing it.

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Today, multimedia software publisher Corel released Corel MediaOne Plus--a brand-new software program designed to let you organize, edit, share, and create projects with your digital photos and videos. The software provides users with an all-in-one solution for managing their digital photos, all the way from their cameras to finished projects like greeting cards or scrapbooks. It also lets users combine photos, videos, and music into what are called "shows," or video compilations.

The main MediaOnePlus interface consists of a large viewing and editing area on the right, with four-pronged navigation on the left: Home provides the organizational features; Enhance includes basic image editing and effects; Show lets you combine photos, videos, and music into your own remixed creations; and Create offers a variety of photo products like collages, albums, and magazine covers.

A photo-tray feature on the bottom of the interface lets you create on-the-fly media lists of photos and videos for easy access and editing. The trays are placed in a tabbed interface, and you can create as many sets of media as you'd like. You can also select multiple photos or videos from any photo tray and add them to a "storyboard," the playlist component that creates the Corel Shows.… Read more

There's some more juicy info in the NPD's recent look at Office and Vista sales.

One of the most intriguing bits is where customers are getting their copies of Office. It turns out a whole lot of them are buying Office directly from Microsoft.

"Microsoft is now the second largest retailer of its own productivity suite," said NPD analyst Chris Swenson. It's not that people are going to Microsoft.com and clicking buy. Rather, they are opting to buy a product code from Microsoft after using trial versions of the software.

The program has been … Read more

Update 9/6/07: Okay, I got the version names confused--two years ago the "X" in the product name meant "10," then was switched to mean "X." As a result, I miscalculated the product cycle. Corel actually shipped a new version last year. So please ignore my attempt at a clever lead-in.

It's been three years since Corel acquired Jasc Software, and about two years since its last major release of Paint Shop Pro; that's a couple of lifetimes in the consumer software market. Today Corel finally announced and shipped a new … Read more

Aiming to build a bridge between its desktop productivity software and the Web, Corel released a free beta version of its new WordPerfect Lightning today. At less than 20MB, Lightning includes Navigator, Notes, and Viewer tools, which manage basic word processing and note taking. This download also offers a free trial of the solid Corel WordPerfect Office X3 suite. Lightning synchronizes content on your hard drive with online folders at Joyent, which offers a generous 200MB of storage in addition to e-mail, a calendar, bookmarking, and collaboration capabilities.

I've played with Lightning several times. Unfortunately, I've found it … Read more