Corel's new WordPerfect Office X4: PDF capabilities galore and "only" $99

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 24 June 2008 08:50

Opinion and Analysis

So, Corel has launched its latest version of WordPerfect Office. What have they done to make it better than Office 2007, better than the free Open Office, and better than web apps like Google Docs? Turns out there’s some key new features which are very attractive - but are they enough to make you switch – or even take notice?

Corel, famous for its Corel Draw application, is also known as the owner of the WordPerfect Office suite.

Coming with the usual collection of wordprocessor, spreadsheet, database, presentation program and more, it still bears the name of the once all-powerful and once Microsoft conquering WordPerfect wordprocessor.

Although the office suite wars were long ago won by Microsoft, competitors have always remained on very low heat.

But competitors have started simmering again, and while they’ve an incredibly long way to go before the still red-hot boiling point sales of Microsoft Office, which still generate billions of dollars per year, Microsoft Office alternatives have never been more acceptable to users and have never been more widely available.

Obvious examples include web based alternatives such as Google Docs, Zoho, ThinkFree Office and the freely downloadable Open Office suite. Even the Apple Mac has Apple’s own AUD $99 iWork suite in competition with the several hundred dollar Microsoft Office for Mac.

Now coming back into the ring is Corel with its WordPerfect Office X4 Suite, which it bills as “the world's leading alternative to Microsoft Office”, with full Microsoft Office 2007 file format compatibility.

While I’m sure the Open Office people would have something to say about being ‘the world’s leading alternative’, Corel is pulling out all the stops in an effort to get the world’s attention as never before.

One of its major drawcards is being “the world’s first PDF office suite”. Corel bills this as offering a “full range of PDF capabilities, making it easy for users to import, edit and export PDF documents – including scanned PDFs – dramatically simplifying user workflows and reducing the need for third-party PDF software.”

While there are many features across all of the programs within the suite, having proper PDF compatibility built-in is an important advance that not only challenges Microsoft,  but Adobe and all other PDF software makers, too.

So, just what are those PDF capabilities, and what else does Corel WordPerfect Office X4 offer, besides a $99 price point (among others) from one exclusive Australian software vendor? Continued on page 2.