# Gateway dumps MS Office...



## James_F (Apr 23, 2002)

Link to story

While this is important for Corel, I don't think this hurts Microsoft that much. If I couldn't buy a computer with MS Office on it, I'd just head down to Fry's Electronics and buy a retail copy. I'd say Microsoft gets more revenue from that then Gateway selling MS Works on these low end computers IMO.


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## Geronimo (Mar 23, 2002)

Is it Office or Works that is being dropped? I don't know many people that use works. Most go out and buy an upgrade---which i believe they can still do.

The question si will people like the Corel Suite enough that they won't bother to upgrade. I used to like Quattro years ago. I have not even see WP in recent years.


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## James_F (Apr 23, 2002)

That the problem with the software. No one is using it. EVERYONE has Office at work, so why would they want to learn a new program at home? :shrug:


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## gcutler (Mar 23, 2002)

I would like to buy a system without any Suite. If I needed a suite for them, I'd rather pick it myself.

For quite a while I was using seperate apps instead of one suite, Paradox for DBs, Wordpad for WP, 1-2-3 for Spreadsheet and Freelance for Presentation. And for years I upgraded those apps when I needed to, or just moved the liscenses to the new machines. Last few times I have had to purchase Office SBE or Works latest versions, of which I never installed or had to when my older apps stopped being economical to upgrade to work on the new OS. But I guess I am now "Trained" and I am using Office SBE XP like a good little boy


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## Geronimo (Mar 23, 2002)

well it helps to have the same thing at home----and a legal license. But I guess we all have different needs.


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## James_F (Apr 23, 2002)

Don't spread you Lotus crap here! 

Man, those were some programs back then. I can't remember the last time I used Amipro, 1-2-3 or Paradox.... Make me want to go find a "abandonware" copy of WordStar. :bang:


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I have to wonder why MS keeps Works going. At school back when I was in 1st grade I used Works for the first time. It was the old version 1 that looked almost just like the DOS Editor, minus the spreadsheet and database functionality. My first computer came with Works 3 and this one came with 4.5, but I uninstalled it. I preferred Corel WP Office 8 over Office '97. Corel isn't really that hard to use, it's almost the same as MS and in some cases is easier to use. I haven't used Corel Office 10 yet, but I have just fallen in love with MS Office XP. WP, Quattro Pro and Presentations are great competition for Word, Excel and PPT, but what about Access, Visio and Publisher? I haven't seen and Corel program in direct competition with those 3 among the other MS Office programs.

On a side note, man what is going on with Corel's stock? When I used to follow them about a year ago they were at ~2.00/share. Isn't Corel in trouble of being delisted for trading under a buck?


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## gcutler (Mar 23, 2002)

I was shocked when I saw the year of production on Paradox for Windows that I was using at the time I gve it up . I think it was dated like 1991 or 1992 and I didn't dump it till around 99. If it weren't for the fact that it was a 16 bit app and 98 didn't like it very much I would have used it a bit longer. But I know when to give up  Actually MS Access was easier to use, but I credit that with 8+ years to develop and master the user Interface


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## Ryan (Apr 24, 2002)

Works is probably maintained so MS can provide a software suite on cheaper PCs. It's better for them to provide a low-end, no-frills package (at little or no income to them, probably) then to have manufactures preload Corel or Lotus or Sun, or some other Office compatable, maybe even freeware, package. If people start looking at Corel or Sun, they might even start think about linux. MS doesn't want _that!_

Works usefullness is questionable, which is documented by the availability a few years ago of PCs preloaded with Works plus *Word*. It's like they were admitting that the works package alone was not appropriate for many home users who needed Word compatability for office work.

I don't know if they've made Works more useful for people who also use MS Office products, but I haven't seen that Works + Word package lately.


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## James_F (Apr 23, 2002)

Let me put it this way. I'm still using Borland Visual dBase 5.5 for one of my applications. The program only runs on Windows 95 so I have a crappy computer in the corner that I use for this program. One of these days, I'll rewrite it on Oracle but I'm just too lazy.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> I can't remember the last time I used Amipro,


The fellow who runs my non satellite business for me uses Amipro everytime he is in the office. I had been using it for years and now use the "new" version, WordPro along with the rest of Lotus Smart Suite (still using Smart Suite 97, maybe it's time to upgrade). I have been using OpenOffice (who was it who posted about that a few weeks ago) lately though for spreadsheet applications.



> what is going on with Corel's stock?


Up 16% today. You should have told me to buy this morning.  There have been rumors for years that they are doomed to go away. It has been a long, slow, painful process, but I think they eventually will.


> For the six months ended 5/31/02, revenues fell 10% to $62 million. Net loss before US GAAP totalled $9.5 million vs. an income of $2.9 million.


 It actually touched $40 at the very end of 1999, but many now penny stocks touched well over $40 at that time.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Out of my 8 MS Office programs, Access is the only one I never use and that I don't know how to use. I've never been motivated to learn it. Last year I took a Computer Applications class hoping to force myself to learn Access, but we totally skipped over it because the teacher said we didn't have enough time  The class was pretty boring, and was for the computer illiterate, but that 99 (all 4 quarters) looked great on my report card


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## Mike123abc (Jul 19, 2002)

I bet the licensing cost for Corel Word Perfect is way below the cost of Microsoft Works. This is a move designed so that they can cut the low end even more. Even if it is only $50 cheaper that pays for a harddrive.


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