NEW YORK (02/03/2000) - If you're a Linux user, and StarOffice, Applixware Office, or Koffice aren't cutting it for you, now you have another option.
Corel Corp. announced that the final release of its WordPerfect Office 2000 for Linux is due to hit stores in April. The suite will be available in two flavors -- Standard, priced at US$109, and Deluxe, priced at $159.
Corel's Linux suite is compatible with the Windows version of WordPerfect Office 2000, and can be installed on most major Linux distributions.
WordPerfect 9, Quattro Pro 9, Corel Presentations 9, and CorelCENTRAL 9 are included with both versions. In addition to these applications, WordPerfect Deluxe offers Paradox 9, an entertainment pack, and a Linux penguin toy.
Also bundled with the suite is Corel's distribution of Linux, Corel Linux OS, which is based on Debian 2.2 Kernel.
Earlier this week, a feature-complete first beta went out to private testers, according to Corel. You won't get a glimpse of the suite until April. Corel says the general public won't be included in any round of beta testing.
Since the first beta includes the final feature set, Corel plans to focus its efforts on fixing bugs, says Derek Burney, executive vice president of engineering at Corel.
Corel is paying special attention to a bug that incapacitates printing. Corel tried to fix this bug in time for the beta 1 release, but printing only works intermittently in the current beta version.
Burney says that the printing problem will not be an issue in beta 2, due out in mid-February.
Also this week, Corel launched a new site, opensource.corel.com, the purpose of which is to provide information about Corel's open-source initiatives and allows developers to access source code.