Corel Says 'Revitalized' WordPerfect Office 12 Coming in April Top Microsoft Office Alternative Gains More Office Compatibility Eric Grevstad
Mon 3/1/04 -- According to Corel, Microsoft's high-priced licensing, Product Activation, and ever-changing, proprietary file formats are making small to medium businesses and consumers ever more receptive to an alternative to the ultra-dominant Microsoft Office suite -- and specifically receptive to WordPerfect Office 12, which will ship next month for $300 (or, for upgraders from almost any past Microsoft or Corel productivity package, $150; an education edition will cost $100).
The latest bundle of the WordPerfect word processor, Quattro Pro spreadsheet, and Presentations multimedia slide-show program promises many file-compatibility improvements with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, plus a new Workspace Manager that lets users switch the suite's toolbars, menus, and keystrokes between WordPerfect and Microsoft Office modes (or special modes for WordPerfect's law-office and classic-DOS-version audiences).
Compatibility Toolbars make it a snap to open and save documents in Office format or publish them to PDF, XML, or HTML, while WordPerfect's trademark Reveal Codes and Real-Time Preview functions help make formatting changes. A new WordPerfect Wireless Office Suite provides SMS mobile phones with Microsoft Outlook e-mail and calendar functionality and instant messaging, while an OfficeReady Browser provides single-click preview and access to over 40 document templates (with more available on the Web).
Corel adds that WordPerfect Office 12 runs on Windows 98 SE and NT 4 (with Service Pack 6a), as well as the Win 2000 and XP platforms required by Microsoft Office 2003. The suite comes with the Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 600 TrueType fonts, and more than 9,600 clip art images and photos.
