Hi,
Well, I had been asked about Corel's Linux plans a few meetings ago
and had to be evasive about it, because we had been working on Secret
Plans :-)
Now the cat's out of the bag.
-- forwarded message --
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Debian Project
http://www.debian.org/
Strategic Alliance Between Corel, KDE and Debian
April 21, 1999
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Original text available at <http://www.corel.com/news/1999/april/april_21_1999.htm>]
>> News
Strategic Alliance Between Corel, KDE and Debian to Advance Development
of a
new Linux® Distribution Corel on track to deliver easy-to-use Linux
GUI and
OS to consumers and OEMs this fall
Ottawa, Canada - April 21, 1999 - Corel Corporation (NASDAQ: COSFF,
TSE:
COS) today announced an alliance with two major Open Source developer
communities to advance the development of its proposed Linux® distribution;
a user-friendly Linux installation and graphical user interface (GUI)
for
the desktop PC.
Corel and the K Desktop Environment (KDE) Project will be working together
to enhance the KDE GUI for inclusion in the upcoming Corel version
of Linux,
aimed for the desktop user.
"Corel has chosen to work with KDE as our preferred desktop interface
because we believe its development is further ahead than other offerings
at
this time," said Derek Burney, Corel's executive vice president of
engineering. "KDE can easily be configured to offer a strong Windows-like
look and feel, which we see as being very important to our strategy
of
making all aspects of work in a Linux environment compatible with
present-day Windows offerings.
"Corel will also be releasing all its improvements and development on
open
source software to the Open Source community," said Mr. Burney. "The
developers in that community are the strength of Linux, and with our
recent
work and contributions to the WINE project, Corel strongly supports
their
efforts."
"Our project's continuous dedication to create an attractive, stable
and
functional desktop environment and Corel's experience in building
state-of-the-art graphical interfaces will help offer users an even
better
experience with the award-winning KDE," said Cristian Tibirna, KDE's
representative in Canada. "We're all very excited about the new prospects."
Corel will also build its desktop Linux offering around the Debian GNU/Linux
distribution, which already has one of the largest installed bases
in the
Linux community, and is known for its stability and security.
"Debian has already made significant strides toward Linux on the desktop,
so
this is a natural partnership," said Erich Forler, Corel's Linux product
manager. "The Linux community has also recognized that Debian's Linux
distribution is built around extremely clean code, and their commitment
to
documentation within their code, and for the applications, makes Open
Source
development more efficient and organized."
"I am very happy to see Corel taking this step into the Open Source
world
and cooperating with non-commercial organizations such as Debian and
KDE,"
said Wichert Akkerman, Debian's project leader. "By combining Debian's
strengths, which include having a large number of developers, a very
open
development model and a public bug tracking system, with the experience
Corel has with making office and desktop products, I think we will
be able
to produce an outstanding system with the best of both worlds."
With a recent strategic alliance with Cygnus, which will provide Cygnus
GNUPro software technology to enable Corel to move its market-leading
productivity applications to Linux, Corel is firmly on track to deliver
its
proposed Linux distribution to the market by the fall. This will be
in
advance of its WordPerfect® Office 2000 for Linux productivity
suite and
CorelDRAW® 9 for Linux graphics application in the fourth quarter
and
beginning of 2000 respectively.
The strength and popularity of Linux is growing steadily, everyday.
International Data Corporation (IDC) recently announced that through
2003,
total Linux commercial shipments will grow faster than the total shipments
of all other IDC covered client or server operating environments. IDC
estimates that Linux commercial shipments will increase at a compound
annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 25% from 1999 through 2003, compared with a 10%
CAGR
for all other client operating environments combined and a 12% CAGR
for all
other server operating environments combined.
>> Corel Corporation
Corel Corporation is an internationally recognized developer of
award-winning graphics and business productivity applications. Development
of market-leading products such as the CorelDRAW® line of graphics
applications and the Corel® WordPerfect® Suite of business
tools is
continually evolving to meet the demands of the corporate, retail and
academic markets. Committed to performance, compatibility, value and
open
standards, Corel develops products for the Windows®, Macintosh®,
UNIX®,
Linux® and Java[tm] platforms. Corel's common stock trades on The
NASDAQ
Stock Market under the symbol COSFF and on the Toronto Stock Exchange
under
the symbol COS. For more information visit Corel's Web site at www.corel.com.
>> KDE Information
The K Desktop Environment is a non-commercial, international, Internet-based
project which develops the freely-available graphical desktop environment
for the UNIX® and Linux® platforms. The completely new Internet-enabled
desktop, incorporating a large suite of applications for UNIX workstations,
currently supports more than 30 languages. The strength of this exceptional
environment lies in the interoperability of its components and the
functionality of its applications. For more information about KDE and
its
technology, please visit the web site at [www.kde.org], or contact
press@xxxxxxx.
>> Debian GNU/Linux
Debian GNU/Linux is a free, or Open Source, operating system (OS) for
your
computer. Debian is a project of Software in the Public Interest Inc.
(SPI).
SPI is a non-profit organization which was founded to help organizations
develop and distribute open hardware and software. SPI encourages
programmers to use the GNU General Public License or other licenses
that
allow free redistribution of software, and hardware developers to distribute
documentation that will allow device drivers to be written for their
product. Open Source is a trademark of SPI. Open Source is managed
by the
Open Source Initiative, which manages the [www.opensource.org] resources,
to
develop branding programs attractive to software customers and producers,
and to advance the cause of Open Source software. For more information
about
Debian and its technology, please contact press@xxxxxxxxxx, or visit
its web
site at http://www.debian.org/
Corel, Corel Print House and the Go Further logo are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Corel Corporation or Corel Corporation Limited.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. UNIX is a registered
trademark of The Open Group. All other product and company names are
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Debian is a registered trademark of Software in the Public Interest,
Inc.
--
Nils Lohner
E-Mail: lohner@xxxxxxxxxx
Debian Press Contact
Press: press@xxxxxxxxxx
