Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

In what is being called a "strategic alliance" cash starved Corel has sold 24 million "non voting" shares of stock to, uh, yeah, Microsoft!

Wow. It makes sense for both if you think about it. Microsoft for obvious reasons, more market share, easy buy, embrace - embellish - eradicate, owning Word and a piece of WordPerfect, owning PhotoDraw and a piece of CorelDraw, etc. For Corel the reasons are less obvious, even though the desperation of needed cash flow is apparent. Corel needs not only the money, but as I admit to my dismay, they need some direction and a Microsoft bent might not hurt. Corel has bet the farm on Linux and the yield this year is very. Having a Microsoft influence cant hurt.

I certainly do not think Corel should lose the Linux focus, I still believe that in the long run the Linux desktop will be a viable alternative for everyday consumers and that Linux applications will also have a market. However, that being said, some pioneers starve to death. I think Corel should consider more of a balanced attack and this move may help (even though this large portion of the company is entirely "non-voting", uh, yeah.)

Check the Yahoo link for more details. Thanks to slashdot for the lead, and lets all hope this helps the Corel stock price and bottom line.   Corel Forms Strategic Alliance with Microsoft