The government department, which successfully prosecuted Microsoft for antitrust violations over a number of years, has selected WordPerfect Office 12 in a five-year deal reportedly worth over $13m to Ottawa, Canada-based Corel.
According to the DoJ, it chose WordPerfect for two main reasons: because of its existing success in the legal arena, and its flexible licensing terms. WordPerfect Office 12’s license enables users to run it both in the office and at home or on a laptop.
The deal is a significant boost for Corel, which was acquired by San Fransisco, California-based Vector Capital in August 2003, but it is not the only one. Corel also reported that its WordPerfect business returned to growth in 2004 in terms of revenue, sales, and installed base.
The company quoted figures from research firm NPD Group, which indicated that in the second half of 2004, WordPerfect outsold Sun Microsystems’s StarOffice in the retail and corporate resellers channels by a ratio of 192 to one, and IBM’s Lotus SmartSuite by 34 to one, making it the leading alternative to Microsoft Office.
