New Competition at Corel : (Buys Intervideo)

Jonathan Neal wrote on 8/28/2006, 9:47 PM
I smell some competition over at Corel, but it's not just with Sony Madison.

Corel is buying InterVideo for $196 million! Corel will now be developing WinDVD, WinDVD Creator, DVD Copy 5, Photo Impact, Home Theater, VideoStudio, DVD Movie Factory, and others - on top of their already full arsenal of products including Paint Shop Pro, Visual Creation Studio Pro, Animation Shop, Painter, Kai’s Power Tools, Word Perfect, and many others. Not to mention, they own WinZIP.

So, they now have 1 major Compression tool (WinZip), 1 major Office tool (Word Perfect), 2 major Media players (WinDVD, Home Theatre), 3 major Video editing tools (VideoStudio, Visual Creation Studio Pro, Animation Shop), 3 major DVD Creation tools (WinDVD Creator, DVD Copy 5, DVD Movie Factory), and 4 major Photo tools (Photo Impact, Paint Shop Pro, Painter, Kai's Power Tools). And by major, I mean, ALREADY POPULARIZED.

There is an INSANE amount of wealth in software at Corel. Visual Creation Studio Pro alone already claims "a complete environment for HD and DV video production, advanced photo editing, and professional DVD creation." At first I was worried for Sony, but then ... me thinks they're going after Adobe ... again.

Comments

DrLumen wrote on 8/28/2006, 11:10 PM
The problem with Corel is they never integrate anything. For example, Vegas Movie Studio and Paint Shop Pro were bundled together but they didn't mesh the 2.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Corel user since Corel Draw 2 and I still use Photo-Paint and Draw to this day but it is lousy for doing any video. There is an option in Photo-Paint to make animation/video but it lacks basic features like 29.97 fps. If they would get off their duff and make ANY of those graphic packages work on video (something like After Effects) I would be impressed. Unfortunately, they will just release some of those things bundled with Draw and then never been seen again.

Each version of Draw has some 'new' app but it is rarely there for more than 1 version. Rave, which was their flash equivalent, was released in CD12 but you would be hard pressed to find it anywhere mentioned now. At that - it still wouldn't do 29.97 or any basic video formats. Usually, they have the codecs (filters) but lack any other meaningful support.

Perhaps they are just trying to accumulate a large IP portfolio... Or, keep swallowing some of the competition to protect what little business they have left.

Oh well, just my opinion.

intel i-4790k / Asus Z97 Pro / 32GB Crucial RAM / Nvidia GTX 560Ti / 500GB Samsung SSD / 256 GB Samsung SSD / 2-WDC 4TB Black HDD's / 2-WDC 1TB HDD's / 2-HP 23" Monitors / Various MIDI gear, controllers and audio interfaces

Jonathan Neal wrote on 8/28/2006, 11:42 PM
Remember Corel Lumiere? It was basically Vegas v0. I swear they were nearly identical. I agree with you though, they focus so little on integration. Yet, if they could learn from Adobe and spend a year or two developing complimentary software - wow - imagine the potential. They obviously have money to spend.
johnmeyer wrote on 8/29/2006, 8:11 AM
And of course they have Ventura Publisher!
rmack350 wrote on 8/29/2006, 8:39 AM
I started using Draw at V3 and loved it. But no one at my shop uses it, or any vector program, so I let it go.

Corel seems to be trying to find a niche, and has always been trying to find one. It's their purpose in life. I think their line is too broad and they just don't develop these aquisitions enough to compete.

I wouldn't be surprised if Rave was too boxed in by other company's patents and copyrights to ever be a viable product.

Now, maybe the nice thing about Intervideo is that they have products that get bundled onto new PCs. So Corel can stay in the consumer's sight. I can well imagine that Sony consumer PCs will come bundled with Intervideo products (rather than Vegas studio).

Rob Mack
vitalforce wrote on 8/29/2006, 3:04 PM
Not integrated programs, just accumulated and laid side by side. Well, I believe Corel is a Canadian company. Look at the trouble they had with Quebec.
Jonathan Neal wrote on 8/29/2006, 3:42 PM
"I believe Corel is a Canadian company. Look at the trouble they had with Quebec."

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I think we should all take up a policy of disregarding states which are not perfect, which is why I have decided to take up residence in the beautiful state of Denial. :)
birdcat wrote on 8/29/2006, 6:30 PM
>I think we should all take up a policy of disregarding states which are not perfect, which is why I have decided to take up residence in the beautiful state of Denial

As opposed to me who has always lived in the state of confusion.....