Corel lays off 320.
June 8, 2000 6:37 PM Subscribe
Corel lays off 320. Why wasn't Michael Cowpland one of them? Why does that man still have a job at that company?
that'll make the perfect world i guess...
"So where's the game being held?"
"Microsoft Stadium."
posted by Neale at 8:13 PM on June 8, 2000
"So where's the game being held?"
"Microsoft Stadium."
posted by Neale at 8:13 PM on June 8, 2000
Bah, by that point the Senators will have already been forced to leave Ottawa from lack of sales.
Micael Cowpland still has a job because he still owns a great deal of the company, if I remember correctly.
Corel has a lot going for them in terms of software. They bought a ton of Metacreations graphic software a while back, including Bryce3D and Poser. If they manage to keep their heads above water long enough to port everything to linux, they can easily get themselves out of the bind their in.
It's just a matter of lasting that long...
posted by cCranium at 6:13 AM on June 9, 2000
Micael Cowpland still has a job because he still owns a great deal of the company, if I remember correctly.
Corel has a lot going for them in terms of software. They bought a ton of Metacreations graphic software a while back, including Bryce3D and Poser. If they manage to keep their heads above water long enough to port everything to linux, they can easily get themselves out of the bind their in.
It's just a matter of lasting that long...
posted by cCranium at 6:13 AM on June 9, 2000
I'll pretend like I'm not hearing this discussion about my hockey team. The Sens will be in Ottawa forever!
But as an Ottawaian, I feel that this is a bit sad. Cowpland may be a jackass, but the fact is that Corel is still one of our city's top high-tech companies. There's a whole lot going on in "Silicon Valley North", but most of the companies are utter crap (see: Newbridge). Corel isn't one such company. There's a lot more going on at Corel headquarters than the media knows about...
posted by Succa at 6:54 AM on June 9, 2000
But as an Ottawaian, I feel that this is a bit sad. Cowpland may be a jackass, but the fact is that Corel is still one of our city's top high-tech companies. There's a whole lot going on in "Silicon Valley North", but most of the companies are utter crap (see: Newbridge). Corel isn't one such company. There's a lot more going on at Corel headquarters than the media knows about...
posted by Succa at 6:54 AM on June 9, 2000
Succa: Unless you get your ass out of waterloo and buy some season tickets, like every other Sen fan out there needs to do, you're gonna be kissing their butts goodbye. :-)
You don't have to be an Ottawanite to appreciate what Cowpland and Corel have done for Canada's high-tech presence. Umm... you probably have to be a Canadian though.
It was because of Corel that the Ottawa area was dubbed "Silicon Valley North", and despite the fact that it's probably not true anymore (Waterloo and Brampton, to get into a discussion that very few outside of Ontario will give a fart about, are probably much better contendors these days).
I like Corel and I like Cowpland. The man's always struck me as having 'Gumption', especially after taking Revenue Canada to court for unfair business practices (they used only Microsoft practices, which went against various governmental regulations about exclusive contracts). I never did hear how that turned out.
posted by cCranium at 7:30 AM on June 9, 2000
You don't have to be an Ottawanite to appreciate what Cowpland and Corel have done for Canada's high-tech presence. Umm... you probably have to be a Canadian though.
It was because of Corel that the Ottawa area was dubbed "Silicon Valley North", and despite the fact that it's probably not true anymore (Waterloo and Brampton, to get into a discussion that very few outside of Ontario will give a fart about, are probably much better contendors these days).
I like Corel and I like Cowpland. The man's always struck me as having 'Gumption', especially after taking Revenue Canada to court for unfair business practices (they used only Microsoft practices, which went against various governmental regulations about exclusive contracts). I never did hear how that turned out.
posted by cCranium at 7:30 AM on June 9, 2000
Just to clarify something:
Corel purchased Bryce (which deserved a better fate), but they did not purchase Poser.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 7:50 AM on June 9, 2000
Corel purchased Bryce (which deserved a better fate), but they did not purchase Poser.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 7:50 AM on June 9, 2000
Ah crap, that'll teach me for ignoring divisions on product list pages. Sorry for the misinformation.
posted by cCranium at 8:07 AM on June 9, 2000
posted by cCranium at 8:07 AM on June 9, 2000
Sorry, Ottawa was dubbed Silicon Valley North before Corel was a gleam in Cowpland's eye. It dates back to DEC and early IBM research there and Nortel, NCR, Mitel, Gandalf and stuff. And it's ridiculous to compare Corel to Newbridge - Newbridge might have been a piece of crap when they sold to Alcatel but they invented more there in a month (any month) than Corel ever developed themselves. Corel is cute and high profile but the real juice in Ottawa has and always will be networking stuff.
posted by mikel at 8:43 AM on June 9, 2000
posted by mikel at 8:43 AM on June 9, 2000
Sorry Succa, I didn't mean to imply that the Senators woudl be gone, but just that the stadium would probably no longer be the Corel Center or whatever it's called.
posted by Calebos at 10:19 AM on June 9, 2000
posted by Calebos at 10:19 AM on June 9, 2000
I meant to imply the Sens would be gone, but I'm a leafs fan; I have to ridicule the Sens and the Canadians as much as possible, while firmly ignoring or rationalizing my own teams (many) flaws.
Isn't that the way all sports fans work? :-)
posted by cCranium at 11:09 AM on June 9, 2000
Isn't that the way all sports fans work? :-)
posted by cCranium at 11:09 AM on June 9, 2000
I just realized that no one had addressed Steven's actual question ("Why wasn't Michael Cowpland one of them?") other than my earlier -- and given my track record this thread, I'm in doubt of it myself.
If he isn't still a huge part-owner, I'd have to say they're keeping him around as a figurehead. A Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates. Look at the vast majority of large, succesful high-tech companies out there, and there's someone who's a bit of a character at the head.
Amazon has Jeff Bezos, Intel has Andy Grove, Sun has Scott McNealy, O'Reilly has Tim.
They all (co-)founded the companies, they're all opinionated, well-spoken, and intelligent. Some are Evil, sure, but they provide a focus for the employees.
Cowpland serves that purposes at Corel (and owns a bunch of it :-) so they keep him around. I'm sure he doesn't just wake up in the middle of the night and decide to buy something, or change direction. It's a publically-owned company, and therefore there's some board that helps guide it. He's just there to be the focus.
posted by cCranium at 11:25 AM on June 9, 2000
If he isn't still a huge part-owner, I'd have to say they're keeping him around as a figurehead. A Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates. Look at the vast majority of large, succesful high-tech companies out there, and there's someone who's a bit of a character at the head.
Amazon has Jeff Bezos, Intel has Andy Grove, Sun has Scott McNealy, O'Reilly has Tim.
They all (co-)founded the companies, they're all opinionated, well-spoken, and intelligent. Some are Evil, sure, but they provide a focus for the employees.
Cowpland serves that purposes at Corel (and owns a bunch of it :-) so they keep him around. I'm sure he doesn't just wake up in the middle of the night and decide to buy something, or change direction. It's a publically-owned company, and therefore there's some board that helps guide it. He's just there to be the focus.
posted by cCranium at 11:25 AM on June 9, 2000
Um, why hasn't anyone pointed out yet that *he's forgoing his salary* until this gets straightened out?
posted by baylink at 11:30 AM on June 11, 2000
posted by baylink at 11:30 AM on June 11, 2000
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I guess that now Microsoft will be broken up, Corel will finally be able to compete fairly and we'll all suddenly see how amazing Wordperfect Office is.
In a few years, all that will be left of Corel is the Ottawa hockey arena that bears its name, although that will probably be changed as well.
posted by Calebos at 7:12 PM on June 8, 2000