Q&A (3): Corel's Cowpland on facing up to MS

I think so, they've got so powerful. We're natural allies with Sun and Netscape and we've got corporate resellers who've also been squeezed.

Do you expect Microsoft to respond to your low pricing?

Initially, they're ignoring us but it leaves us lots of opportunity. Roughly half their revenues come from Office. If they cut their price in half that's a lot of money.

It's ironic isn't it that Corel of all companies is moving so aggressively against Microsoft when Corel really made it's pile from Windows development?

That's right. If you look back to history we were the first developer to do a job on Windows. We were first out of the gate with a big application when Windows 95 launched. It's about having a fast-moving company. The whole thing [at Corel] is geared to speed. The whole Internet is too ... some of them are even [faster] than us.

Do you see selling over the Internet and component software having a major impact on traditional pricing structures?

Well the upgrade price for WordPerfect Office is about $100 and we don't see why we have to go much lower ... maybe we'll go $10 or $20 lower. It actually could be sold over the Internet or in boxes as a CD with all the libraries and other things you might want.