Bonum Certa Men Certa

Whoa, Corel is getting into the Internet video phone business



Date: 1997

Synopsis

Snippet

From: Laura Butler Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 6:32 PM To: Net Meeting Team Subject: Whoa’ Corel is getting into the Internet video phone business

Corel is looking to get into the picture telephone business (result of Netscape deal)"

Special:Contributions/201.92.132.145|201.92.132.145

coughed up the $29 subscription fee, here’s both the link to the article anti the first couple of paragraphs:

(http://interactive6.wsj.com/edition/current/articles’SB953349840285387500.html

Corel Turns Its Attention To Video-Conferencing Dow Jones News Services

TORONTO -- Corel Corp.. the Ottawa software firm with ambitions to become an industry powerhouse, plans to start marketing picture-telephone equipment for use on the Internet over regular telephone lines by the summer.

Like other firms, Corel is betting that consumers are finally ready to pay for face-to-face conversations when talking on the phone or over t~e Internet. Significant growth is expected in the consumer video-conferencing market this year because of technological advances and cheaper prices.

Corel is looking at licensing picture-phone software developed by Vivo Software Inc. for is video-conferencing product, and is in talks with PictureTel Corp., a leading video-conferencing company and a partner with Vivo. However, Corel says it might ultimately design the software itself or use another company’s technology.

From: Laura Butler Sent: Thurday, January 15, 1997 8:33 PM To: NetMeeting Team; Laura Butler Subject: RE Whoa’ Corel is getting into the Iternet video phone business

I forgot to include a most interesting paragraph:

Corel aims to sell its packages for about $300, Limits on the technology has kept prices out of the reach of most consumers at $500 and higher. Corel's package will include the necessary software and camera, but not a modem.

From: Charles Figerald Sent: Thursay. January 16. 1997 9:55 AM To: Max Morris; Laura Butler Conferencing Partner information Subj.: RE Whoa’ Corel is getting into the Internet video phone business

Corel bas been investing in some weird analog videoconferencing stuff for about the last two years. I read this as them dropping it

not Sure l would spend a lot of time with them on NetMeeting. they have hard aligned against and are shipping communicator with their suite, they may be just fishing for information

..... Original Message

From: Max Morris Sent: Thurday, January 15, 1997 9:49 AM Laura Butler Conferencing Partner information Subject: RE Whoa’ Corel is getting into the Internet video phone business

They’ve been in touch with me about using NetMeeting for this...

Original Message

From: Max Morris Sent: Thursay. January 16. 1997 9:57 AM To: Laura Butler Conferencing Partner information Charles Figerald Subj.: RE Whoa’ Corel is getting into the Internet video phone business

i figured as much. but he wants info on how to use our api’s and our video stuff, i figure that’s innocuous enough he won’t get anything more than that out of me. and who Knows, maybe that’s what they use, since our friends way down south don't seem to have anything with video yet.

From: Steve Liffick Sent: Thursday. January16. 1997 12:42 PM To: Max Morris, Laura Butler Conferencing Partner informatlon Charles Figerald Curt Smith Subject: RE Whoa’ Corel is getting into the Internet video phone business

I’m a little late jumping in on this thread - but here’s another bit of info Thru PlctureTel. Vivo (and thus Corel) is in a position to ship full featured multipoint application sharing (+wb +chat +ft) that is compatible wtth NetMeetmg

if a deal is Struck we should reiterate to Ptel/Vivo that we view Corel as competitive with us and the terms of any license should not include source code.

steve

From: Curt Smith Sent: Thursday. January16. 1997 10:05 PM To: Max Morris, Laura Butler Conferencing Partner information Charles Figerald Subject: RE Whoa’ Corel is getting into the Internet video phone business

don’t engage with people from corel, netcape or sun. not at all. don’t return their call, don’t reply to email with information.

.... Original Message ..... From: Curt Smith Sent: Thursday January 16 1997 1:24 PM To: Steve Liffick Subject: RE Whoa’ Corel is getting into the Internet video phone business

what’s your point here? that we should be talking to competitors when they call up asking questions i hope not. these companies want us to die. don’t give them useful information when there’s not a chance in the world they’re going to ally with us.

what do you think would happen if you called up sun, netscape or corel to ask them about what they’re doing in the conferencing space?

it’s important to know what the competition is doing, but please don’t give away our strategy or product plans by answering random technical questions when people call you up. hackles should raise on the back of your neck when you get a call from one of these 3 companies. interop events, shows, etc., are the place to learn about the competition.

----Original Message-- From: Curt Smith Sent: Thursday, January 16 1997 1 44 PM To: Blake Irvings Direct Reports. Blake Irving Subject: FW Whoa’ Corel is getting into the Internet video phone business

unnamed pm: "oh, yes, I answered a bunch of questions from this guy at sun."

i’ve mad recent conversations w/ people who give information to 3rd parties over the phone and there’s little sensitivity among some of the folks who get calls from outside the company about giving away competitive information, let’s not make it easy for the clear competitors.

sun, netscape, (corel to a lesser extent), ibm: when they call just get their questions, don’t answer any questions, take some notes, send emil about what they were looking for, don’t call back. if they pester yoo, tell them your manager needs to return the call.

..... Original Message--- From: Charles Fitzgerald Sent: Thursday. January 16. 1997 1:47PM To: Curt Smith; Blake Irving’s Direct Reports; Blake Irving Cc: Ben Slivka: Erich Andersen (LCA) Subject: RE: Whoa! Corel is getting into the mtemet video phone business..

Sun seems to be calling in a lot.

From: Ben Silvka Sent: Sunday, January 19, 1997 7:28 PM To: Brad Silverberg: Jim Allchin (Exchange) Cc: Paul Maritz Subject: answering phone calls from direct competitors

DawdMs (works on AFC graphics) got a phone call from someone at JavaSoft asking about how to design stuff in Java to work best on Windows JavaSoft had called the NT GDI group originally. but they (luckly) forwarded to the Java team. See e-mil thread below on Collaboration for another incident.

I'm concerned that our direct competitors may be calling in to random people within MS and getting insight into our strategic efforts. Is there any way we can communicate to your groups that contacts from Sun. Netscape etc need to be funneled to some central group so we can avoid leaks

-Bens

Full Exhibit

https://techrights.org/o/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/px02629.pdf