WordPerfect & Corel OFFICE – I may be an illustrator, artist and graphic designer but I do write quite a bit.

I may be an illustrator, artist and graphic designer but I do write quite a bit. I am a owner of two blog´s I write myself. And I run my self employeed registered company. And I like many others need writing software for obvious reasons. Nothing new under the sun in that respect.

When I started using my own computer back in 1995 or something like that, I started using Windows 3.1 and word. In the beginning that was the only thing I used my computer for – writing and looking at the screen with big eyes as if looking into the “unknown”.

Early on I heard of this huge company making the software called Wordperfect and their wordprocessor with the same name. Later bought by Corel. When I got the opportunity to try WordPerfectI felt it was kind of “mine” program to write things in. I still liked Word 6.0 which was at the time the software I used most, but WordPerfect always lurked around in the background.

As time progressed and having look over the arsenal of software I needed to invest in and buy back in and around 1999-2002?, Star Office suddenly turned up from Sun Microsystems trying to take users from Word by Microsoft by releasing it free. When I was to upgrade my new license at the time of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, having to hold on software investments for the moment, Star Office felt like my choice. And WordPerfect I had only had the opportunity to use at a office space I sometimes frequented as a studio. And I always enjoyed using it.

Eventually Star Office became Open Office and for many years I used OpenOffice. And I uninstalled it quite recently actually. Free to use as it was. But Open Office ain´t what it used to be, and when it did “be” it lacked a few features I whanted. When OpenOfice finally got one of the features, I used it for a longer time, but now uninstalled it. For a while now I have been able to use WordPerfect and loving it. And something new came on the horizon for me – Corel OFFICE from Corel complementing my workflow in writing. And After all I had started to use the software I never forgotten – WordPerfect from Corel.

Screenshot of WordPerfext X6

Two dialogs in this picture shows eBook and Legal, undocked for highlighting the features to this blog article.

WordPerfect comes with a eBook Publishing feature, which is absolutely great for anyone who publish ebook´s. As seen in the above screenshot picture. The open dialog on the left hand side.

Private law firms and other law offices and government in USA and Canada uses  WordPerfect for its great tools and features. Such they say lack a lot in Word from Microsoft.

As it stands today I like having two different Writing software, and office suites for my work. Most of us only need one, but I like to have two. And for different reasons. One is that WordPerfect allows me to open file formats from Word, Excell and PowerPoint with no problem and giving me a set of features I sometimes need running my business. And export/save to all those file formats with excellence and its not a Ribbon interface. When you write a lot you don’t always like to have a style word processor with ribbons like Word from Microsoft. Some love the ribbon while some don’t.

Sometimes I too like to have a Ribbon interface and that’s when I use Corel OFFICE.

Screenshot of Corel OFFICE Write

Corel OFFICE, that comes with a full office suite with Write, Calculate and Show (equals Word, Excel and PowerPoint) opens all the mentioned Microsoft word file formats, while WordPerfect Office Suite opens even more files than that. And offer more features as it is a larger more complete Office Suite. Most users will be more than sufficant with Corel Write, Calculate and Show.

Screenshot of Corel OFFICE Calculate
Although WordPerfect today don’t have the same massive user base like Microsoft Word does, and it used to be the almost exclusive wordprocessor on the market before Word came on the scene, it still is a frequently updated and maintained high class wordprocessor. And by many told to be totally superior to Word. But greatness don’t always outplay marketing. And Microsoft no doubt have had a word when selling their Windows operating systems pre-installed on all PC´s around the world.

What I particularly like with Corel OFFICE from Corel is that it works so great to write with. Opens files from clients who uses word office files. And its so inexpensive and looks great. I simply love writing in it. As I do with WordPerfect.

PRICING = 4,5 movie tickets
In Swedish currency Krona Corel OFFICE cost about 495 SEK, equivalent to about 4,5 cinema tickets viewing 4,5 block buster movies. So it really isn’t expensive at all. And with Corel OFFICE and Corel WordPerfect I get the best of all worlds.

Stefan Lindblad
Illustrator, artist, graphic designer who also writes
www.canvas.nu