[GTALUG] Off-topic nostalgia: CorelDraw and WordPerect on sale

[Evan Leibovitch]

On Fri, May 3, 2024 at 11:53 AM Lennart Sorensen <
lsorense at csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:


> My recollection of corel's linux was the pile of license violations they
> were doing.
>
>
> https://slashdot.org/story/99/09/20/1051226/corel-linux-beta-license-violates-gpl


You're aware that the massive Slashdot thread was about the Beta version of
their first distro release, right?

I was not on the Beta program but I did use the final product.
I cut them some slack because this was their first FOSS product and their
teams were not good with the transition.
That got straightened out between beta and release, which means the beta
served its purpose.
The license jargon was cleared up and source code was made available in the
first and subsequent releases.
(down the shashdot thread someone actually examined the Corel legalese and
found that it did NOT violate the GPL or usurp original author rights.)
The wrapper around apt was to make it easier to use, I was able to use apt
without restrictions from the shell. Since then many other graphical
wrappers around apt have been released.

So yeah I have no good memories about Corel's attempt at linux.
>

Did you actually use it, or are you basing your views on a typical /.
overreaction thread?

I eventually stopped using Corel Linux, but not for any licensing issues.
Their proprietary value-add was a little too geared for people who had
never used Linux before and I didn't need that level of hand-holding. It
was poor as a server.

Still... regardless of one's thoughts on the quality or utility of their
release, Corel did break ground in introducing Linux to a mainstream
audience. They had a large presence at COMDEX where they launched the
product and were the only mainstream consumer software company talking up
FOSS, at a time when Microsoft was in all-out attack mode.

"I can't complain, but sometimes I still do": Joe Walsh and most of Slashdot
- Evan
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