Red Hat/Corel Takeover Rumors

zDooder writes "According to Yahoo Finance, rumors are flying on Wall Street about RedHat buying out Corel. " Corel's stock has been all over the place as a result (Discloser:I own some Corel stock). It's definitely an interesting match. Corel's distribution is based on Debian, and Word Perfect is a decidedly closed source product. I'm not putting a lot of weight in this one, but I've heard stranger rumors so who knows.

Comments

I'll wait to see

[pos]

I doubt they will buy Corel but it makes me think of a good thing coming from all of the Red Hoopla lately. Perhaps one of the bast ways to get lots of GPL code is simply to buy it. I know that perhaps WP isn't the best code in the world but i am sure that someone could benefit from at least seeing it. If you view code writing to be largely like a tree growing (code branching and such), then a GPL lisence takes over that whole branch. A purchase of code and a release under the GPL effectively makes the whole branch GPL. I tend to view the coding world as more linear than your average tree (rope-like perhaps) with new strands of code being woven in and out of the application. But, GPL code can't be woven in without a GPL lisence.

Now I wonder, what if a large linux driven company could purchase/write a lot of code and GPL it. What would the computer industry look like/how would it work in an all/mostly GPL world. would there be more computer jobs available? less?

I have my ideas but I would like to know what the rest of /. thinks too.

perhaps it would start another "red" scare in the traditional business world ;)

-pos


The truth is more important than the facts.

Maybe not a bad thing.

[Cacophony]

If RedHat buys Corel we should get Open Source WordPerfect Suite. This could really kill MS Office. A good well known office suite that's free! Why would anyone buy MS Office for some $500 or so.

I have one question then. Which distribution do you keep or do you distribute both? Two distrubutions from one company sounds dumb to me.

Another good thing... RH and Corel and have been two of the biggest helps to get linux to the masses, putting there heads together couldn't be a bad thing.

-Al-

SGI

[mattdm]

Not a rumor, more of a suggestion -- Red Hat should buy SGI, not Corel. It'd fit better with the operating-system-technology thing. SGI has a lot of cool stuff (even if they haven't been doing so well as a company lately) and they're already putting a lot into Linux. Red Hat buying them would complete the transformation.

--

Corel Takeover - And Bob's Your Uncle!

[ggoebel]

Corel Takeover rumours are a dime a dozen.

I've owned Corel stock from time to time, and if I've learned one thing, it is that Corel has a talent for using rumours, false promises, shady accounting, and insider trading to manipulate the value of their stock.

But it is hard to cover up what Corel really is. -Namely, a lackluster under-performing Software Development Company who is trying to go head to head with Microsoft, and is both financially and technologically on the ropes.

If it isn't rumours that Novell, IBM, or Sun is going to buy Corel, then it is vaporware promises of WordPerfect Office for Java. Bottom line: Read the financial statements, not the press releases.

Linux is good for Corel, but is Corel good for Linux?

Selling WordPerfect and Office Suites for Linux is a good market direction for Corel to be going. It'll make them some good money. -Especially since their products aren't doing to well in the WinTel market, better to reposition for a less competive one (Linux). But how long will it last?

Why a Corel Linux Distribution?

Does Corel really have what it takes to become a major player in Linux Distributions? Is it technically superior? Maybe on a couple points. Is it more user-friendly? Maybe, maybe not. Is it likely to stay ahead of the curve for long? No. Linux distributions require staying power. The ability to consistently deliver a more value-added distribution than the competitors.

We all benefit for Corel's effort to improve Linux... I hope that they do become a major player, but I just don't think they've got it in them. I hope I get to eat my words.

What value would Corel add to RedHat?

Little to none. Unless Redhat is looking to put the rather expensive WordPerfect(TM) feather in their hat, they little to gain from an aquisition of Corel. Gnome and KDE are already churning out Office Suites of their own. And I'll bet given a year or two, those Office Suites will be technically superior and more user friendly than anything Corel will have to offer.