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© 2003 by Rick Altman. All Rights Reserved.
As Corel Corp. sits on the precipice of uncertainty, pondering a future that is largely out of its hands, the future of the software remains very much a vital question. There is little doubt that there will be a version 12 of CorelDRAW—we’re just not sure what it will be called or who will be at its helm.
We’re also not sure at whom it will be targeted, and that is because we have never been exactly sure who has been in Corel’s crosshairs for the past seven years. That, you would have to think, is one of the key reasons that the company undertakes acquisition talks today.
Since 1996, CorelDRAW has been billed as the tool for professionals. If it has started to sound a bit defensive to you, there is good reason: Critics of the software have been identifying it with amateurish design since the days when DRAW users were indeed famous for creating amateurish design.
Corel has tried very hard to beat down this rap. It has ventured deep into initiatives to make inroads with service bureaus, with schools, with design academies, and with Macintosh users. It has spent tens of millions of dollars trying to refocus its reputation as being every bit the tool as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
This process has produced an intriguing result. The Macintosh version of DRAW has been well-received by the critics, many service bureaus have indeed been enlightened on the strength of DRAW’s PostScript output, and Corel has succeeded in establishing curriculum at nationwide design schools. And it hasn’t made a damn bit of difference. CorelDRAW is still seen as a second cousin by virtually all users of all Adobe products. If anyone at Corel thinks that the Adobe user is a candidate to become a DRAW user, he should be arrested for drug abuse because he surely is smoking something.
It does not matter what Corel says or what CorelDRAW does. The professional market is no longer available. Corel cannot win in the professional space; it cannot even play on the field. No Adobe user is going to switch programs today and if he or she were to, it would not be to a Corel application. It’s just not going to happen, and the sooner that this point is acknowledged by Corel officials (or those who might inherit the software in the coming months), the sooner that DRAW might enjoy real progress.
We know there are some high up at Corel who get this point and it has manifested itself in a curious way. Why do you think that Painter and KnockOut have lived under the procreate line for the past two years? Those programs have made legitimate inroads in the professional marketplace and it would have been unfair to them to be brandished with the Corel name. Kind of tragically ironic when you think of it, because a few Corel products allowed into that playground might have opened the doors for the rest. Perhaps that is why Corel reversed course yet again and returned Painter and KnockOut to the Corel brand.
But that point is not relevant. CorelDRAW no longer has any business trying to scale that wall. There are far better opportunities.
To the graphics marketplace, the counterpart to a professional graphics user is not an amateur user, it is a business user. The business user is not necessarily a professional graphic designer; he or she is a professional something-else who needs to create graphics for those something-elses.
It has probably been reported here a thousand times over the years, so one more time won’t hurt:
Almost three-quarters of all CorelDRAW users that we have encountered since 1993 do not have professional backgrounds in the arts.
Almost 65% of all patrons of the CorelWORLD User Conference (arguably the most dedicated of DRAW users) identify themselves the same way.
To these people, the debate about whether CorelDRAW is for pros or for amateurs is just a bunch of white noise. They couldn’t possible care less! If the tool allows them to do their jobs, then it’s the right tool. Furthermore, many of them have wondered aloud why Corel has been sprinting from these business users? Do they have the SARS virus? In trying to defend Corel’s perceived turf, the company has unwittingly alienated those who had long felt that they were on Corel’s turf. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Corel’s obsession with the professional market has not only been a waste of time, energy, and resources, but it has risked the relationship with those users who are the company’s more natural target.
Let’s take a little quiz. We’ll keep asking questions and you tell us when you think you know what we are driving at. And we’ll do it in Jeopardy style.
The answer is approximately 70 million.
The question is: How many registered
copies are there of Microsoft Office in the United States?
The next answer is 30 million.
How many of those users use the software regularly?
The next answer is 15 million.
How many of those use the software on a daily basis?
The next answer is almost all of them.
How many of these users produce graphics of some sort?
And the final answer is very few of them.
How many of these users recognize that need?
To any self-respecting CorelDRAW user, it would be like slapstick comedy to consider using a word processor to create graphics, but millions of Word users do so because they do not know any better. They know that the Drawing toolbar lets them create rectangles, ovals, and lines, and they can even fill them with colors. What else is there??
The real juggernaut are the PowerPoint users. They are like next of kin to DRAW folks, and as we ready ourselves to debut PowerPoint Livein the fall, that point continues to be driven home with persistent clarity. Many PowerPoint users have the same job experiences as DRAW users: they were hired by their company for a different purpose but then filled the role of graphics content creator through chance, circumstance, or desire for breadth. They learned on the job. They developed instincts through a few notable successes and yes, some spectacular failures, and they eventually became thought of in their company as the graphics gurus. All by the seats of their pants. They are a gentle folk, absent of the snobbery and high-mindedness that often typifies the Macintosh set and those who earned degrees in the arts. They know there is a lot to learn about the art of presentations and they relish learning it. Just like DRAW users...
But there is one monumental difference. PowerPoint users need a graphics app more often than DRAW users need a presentation tool. More to the point, when DRAW users need to create presentations, they know to reach for PowerPoint or Corel Presentations. But when PowerPoint users need external graphics, all they know is to head over to Office Online and look for clipart.
In a recent PowerPoint seminar in Chicago, of the 17 people in attendance, only one had spent any time with a drawing program (Illustrator, of course, because he had no occasion to have been told about CorelDRAW). Yet, almost all of the questions of a graphical nature had to do with things that PowerPoint couldn’t do. Like realistic drop shadows, true combining of objects, PowerClip, text fitted to a curve, wrapped paragraph text, and versatile transparency. “For that you would need a drawing program,” was the broken-record-like response, and by 4pm, one of the patrons finished the sentence...“wait don’t tell me, you recommend CorelDRAW for that...”
Two of the patrons went out and bought the program that night.
Someone needs to show these people the light, and that someone should be the people in charge of DRAW. CorelDRAW is the perfect tool for the Microsoft Office user. It includes a vector drawing program and an image-editing application—many Office users don’t know the difference and wouldn’t think to buy both, even though they need both. It comes with Trace and RAVE, two handy tools for those who DO know the difference between bitmap and vector. All of the things that were sources of derision and even ridicule among the professional set become terrific value-adds for Office users: scads of typefaces, gobs of clipart, photos and textures...kitchen-sink software resonates quite well with this group.
Even if Corel is not delivered from its current predicament, it can move on an assault of the Office user. Granted, a few million dollars of marketing muscle would be a good thing, but until that time, there is plenty that can be placed into action.
1. Make DRAW 12 Office-friendly. Without sacrificing any of its high-end output capabilities, DRAW 12 should include automation for creating WMF, PNG, and low-res TIFF files. It should feature a profile for optimizing photos for screen output, and it should name these things “wizards.” It should have squeaky-clean anti-aliasing, not the dreadful fuzzy-edge problem that has plagued the program for two versions. Throw out all of the off-base hyperlink and rollover stuff that nobody uses, and finally, make sure that RAVE exports AVI files correctly, consistently, reliably, and WITH SOUND!
2. Embrace its reputation. Stop chasing windmills. Stand up and shout from the rooftops that DRAW is the tool for the trenches. It was developed on the Windows platform, it knows the trials and tribulations of the amateur designer, and it is the perfect program to make the business user a more capable content creator.
3. Deliver that message to the masses. Getting the message out to Corel users is not so easy these days (take it from us as we try to market CorelWORLD!), because the user community has lost many of its congregating points. That is certainly not the case with PowerPoint users and Office users in general. There are dozens of third-party websites, newsgroups with 50 times the traffic of Corel’s, and the widely-read Presentations magazine. Then let’s talk user groups and trade shows, where tens of thousands meet annually. Speaking at these events and giving away a box or two would be smart seed-planting. And with the exception of advertisements in Presentations, these initiatives would cost little or nothing.
4. Drop a few smart bombs. It’s not terribly difficult to find companies with high concentrations of Office users. (There are some companies here in the Bay Area with more Office users in one building than you would find DRAW users in all of California.) The right evangelist should use espionage if necessary to get him or herself into a meeting room, armed to the teeth with trial CDs, several full boxes, and a well-crafted demo showing just how suited DRAW would be to the business of business graphics.
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Today, Corel Corp. is losing a battle that it should never have waged in the first place. Instead, it has an opportunity to appeal to users that few other companies are targeting. This is more than just a hail-Mary pass into the endzone and this is not a revolutionary change in course. The software is already doing what it needs to do to appeal to the business user. It is up to the custodians of the software to recognize that this is a much better battle to fight. This is a battle that can actually be won.
Copyright 2003, All rights reserved. Have an opinion? Share it with the Corel community at the CorelWORLD Forum. There is already quite a bit of discussion about this story. Join in.
May 2007: As simple as possible, but not simpler... · April 2007: Killer Keystrokes · March 2007: Resolution Confusion · January 2007: Fearless Forecasts for 2007 · November 2006: Epiphanies at PowerPoint Live 2006 · August 2006: Escaping Death by PowerPoint · July 2006: Notes from the Floor of InfoComm · June 2006: Beyond PowerPoint--Making Movies for Business and Pleasure, Part II · May 2006: Beyond PowerPoint--From Photos to DVDs · April 2006: It’s Your Music!--Overcoming the oppressive restrictions of iTunes · March 2006: CorelDraw X3—A few must-haves and a few missed opportunities, all in all, a credible upgrade · February 2006: Making Windows Inhabitable · January 2006: Fearless Forecasts for 2006 · September 2005: Just What is a Background Anyway? · August 2005: Meet David Dobson, Corel's New CEO · July 2005: Community, Blind Dates. and Albert Einstein: An Interview with the PowerPoint Live Conference Host · June 2005: CorelWorld 2005: Image Editors, Executive Appearances, and Krispy Kremes · May 2005: As Adobe's Shadow Grows, Is Corel Better off or Worse? · March 2005: Delivering Your Presentation: How Close to the Source Can You Get? · February 2005: Digital Photography: The Killer App of this Generation Part II · January 2005: Digital Photography: The Killer App of this Generation · November 2004: A Killer Deal for Corel Or Another Distraction? · September 2004: The Scourge that is Kazaa and AOL Instant Messenger · August 2004: The Golden Triangle: Presenter, Audience, and Slides · July 2004: A Blast from the Past: How Fast is Fast Enough? · June 2004: Guilty Pleasures · May 2004: A Personal Wish List for PowerPoint 12 · April 2004: Eyedropping: Version 12 makes a good tool even better... · March 2004: Deadly Sins Of Modern PowerPoint Usage · February 2004: Is the even-numbered curse finally over? · January 2004: Another take on Achieving Absence of Ugliness · November 2003: What can we do it again??--Debut of PowerPoint Live Leaves Unquenchable Thirst with the Host · September 2003: Corel Corp. Has a New Custodian · July 2003: Candor and Contrition at CorelWORLD · June 2003: What a Long, Great Trip It’s Been! · May 2003: The Boat that Corel is Missing · April 2003: No Fooling...Is Corel Breaking Up? · March 2003: The Annual Design-a-Brochure Contest · February 2003: Symbolism is Everything · January 2003: Mania, Our Semi-Annual Pilgrimage to Holland · October 2002: On Creativity, Problem-Solving, and Paper Bags · July 2002: CorelDRAW 11: Surprise, Surprise... · May 2002: The Sound of Silence: What does it mean when a company plays its cards so close to its chest? · April 2002: The Art and Science of Presentation Graphics--Creating for the Screen Has its own Challenges · March 2002: CorelDRAW 11: What kind of personality and attitude should a software program have today? · February 2002: Oy, my aching fingers... · December 2001: Digital Photography · November 2001: Can we say goodbye to the Rolls Royce Mentality? · October 2001: An Unforgettable Week: The drama that unfolded around CorelWORLD · August-September 2001: The Art of Paragraphics: New-age ingredients for success with Corel VENTURA · July 2001: Your Very Own Interface: How to make Corel applications read your mind · June 2001: Fighting the Font Wars: How to stay sane with your sans · May 2001--Turning the Key at Nicholas-Applegate · April 2001--A Modest Proposal for Reviving VENTURA Publisher
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