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

[sciguy]

I found Corel WordPerfect was unstable - even compared with Windows 98's 
wp. I could get some documents written in it, but I found myself using 
the Windows 98 copy more often. I recall there was some irony expressed 
at the time that WordPerfect originated as a Unix product, and its port 
to Microsoft came after. The irony was that the port to Corel Linux  was 
a port from Windows, not a port from Unix, meaning that it had to use 
WINE libraries, which was the reason behind it being unstable. I think 
they did that to save money. I recall the experience being "so-so" but 
not "horrible".

The last really good version of Wordperfect for Linux, I remember, came 
from before Corel obtained it, when it was part of a RedHat distro I had 
and had to be installed using RPM. I recall it being an old version of 
RPM that some years later I couldn't extract with a later version and 
gave up on the idea. But it was comparatively much more stable.

Paul

On 2024-05-05 10:17, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
> 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
> ---
> Post to this mailing list talk at gtalug.org
> Unsubscribe from this mailing list 
> https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk