Computer Grapics fans: Corel just acquired Jasc ("Paint Shop Pro")

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel2/Section/Press/Release&sid=1047022959204&cid=1047023901915

Ottawa, Canada – Oct 14, 2004
Corel Corporation today acquired Jasc Software, Inc., the award-winning developer of the Paint Shop™ family of digital-photography and image- editing software. A critical milestone in Corel's ongoing growth strategy, this acquisition follows four consecutive quarters of profitability and a successfully completed turnaround since Corel was taken private in August 2003. The acquisition further extends Corel's position as a powerful force in the packaged software industry providing exceptional office and personal productivity and graphics products. Corel will now serve a combined base of more than 60 million customers worldwide with an extended software portfolio that combines innovative photo editing and graphics creation, vector- illustration and technical- graphics applications along with Corel's popular WordPerfect line of products. The acquisition is expected to officially close by the end of October 2004.

Corel corporate headquarters will remain in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Corel will maintain the former Jasc facility in Minneapolis, MN for the Paint Shop family operations. Amish Mehta will continue to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Corel Corporation. Several members of the Jasc senior management team will join Corel.

Corel will sell Paint Shop™ Pro®, Paint Shop™ Pro® Studio and Paint Shop™ Photo Album™ as stand alone products and will continue to provide worldwide service and support to customers under the Corel brand. In addition, Corel will actively support new R&D initiatives for the Paint Shop family, ensuring that the next-generation of Jasc products will continue to flourish.

[Wickerman]

1. Great, does that mean they'll raise the price?

Its a great value now, I suppose they will start charging what its worth soon.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. They (Jasc) just came out with a new version, so...

...if Corel has a new one within the next year or less, you can be sure it is only to slap on a Corel logo and charge the consumer for it.

There are too many mid-line products (Adobe Photoshop Elements, Ulead PhotoImpact, etc) for Corel to raise the price TOO high without some earth-shattering improvements.

[arwalden]

2. Great!! I've Always Preferred Corel PhotoPaint Over PhotoShop...

It's a shame that "Photoshop" has become a verb instead of the brand name that it is. The PhotoPaint tools are much easier to use, IMO.

-- Allen

[salvorhardin]

4. I really wish they'd port it to Linux

Like arwalden I prefer Paintshop Pro over Photoshop.

The GIMP is great, but it's nowhere near the capabilities of Paintshop Pro.

[starroute]

5. Another PaintShop Pro fan here

One of the few pieces of software I actually paid money for (I'm a major freeware junkie), and it's been worth every penny. I hope Corel doesn't ruin a good thing.