Dr. Michael C.J. Cowpland, CEO of Corel -- the hot Canadian software maker that is challenging Microsoft -- discussed this question Mar. 18. He was online with William C. Symonds, BW's Toronto bureau manager.
Here's a sample:
Wcsymonds: How are your plans for a new version of WordPerfect 8 coming along?
JackBW: Corel bought WordPerfect from Novell last year.
Corel10: Very well. We will be shipping the first Beta by the end of the week, and we have some super new features, as well as tight integration between components.
JackBW: HySa in the audience asks this one.
Question: Where do you see Microsoft in the next 5, 10, and 15 years? Where do you see Corel?
JackBW: A really long-term question.
Corel10: Microsoft will be a global satellite company, and Corel will be king of Java. Microsoft needs the kind of growth that only AT&T and BT's [British Telecom] market will provide. We are convinced that Java will replace Windows as the dominant environment. Our Office for Java is a view of the future.