Corel Targets Netbooks with Home Office Suite

By Geoff Duncan June 17, 2009

Corel Targets Netbooks with Home Office Suite

Folks who’ve hopped on the netbook bandwagon have probably noticed the systems are a little under-powered—and lack the screen real estate—to handle mainstream office productivity suites. Software maker Corel hope to tap into that nascent market with Corel Home Office, a three-app suite designed to handle word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations on netbook-style systems. And, the suite is even available on a USB key, so folks with netbooks that don’t have an optical drive have a non-download option for installation.

"In talking with consumers and home based business owners, it became clear to us that they were seeking greater simplicity in their software," said Corel’s director of product management Jay Larock, in a statement. "At the same time, the growing popularity of netbooks and other mini notebook computers means that more users are focusing on a smaller set of core tasks. Corel Home Office addresses this segment’s specific needs by striking the right balance between features, price, and productivity—all in a unique package that is ideally suited to today’s portable computers."

Corel Home Office consists of Corel Wire, Corel Calculate, and Corel Show, handling word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, respectively. The apps feature wide file format support (including Microsoft Office) and can export PDFs for easy sharing. The programs also support 13 languages, and offer a wide range of customization options so users can manage and maximize their use of screen real-estate.

Corel is offering Home Office at a netbook-friendly price of $69.99. Corel Home Office requires at least Windows XP (Vista is fine) and a system with at least 256 MB of RAM; however, Corel also says the suite wants at least a 1,024 by 768-pixel screen, which is a bit bigger than the 1,024 by 600-pixel displays built into many netbooks. For the curious, a free trial download is available to test out.

[Update 18-June-2009: Corel says the system requirements initially posted for Home Office were incorrect; the suite is available for download or on a USB stick, but is not available from Corel on CD-ROM.]

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Computing

Copilot’s most exciting Office features will cost $20 a month

Microsoft Copilot creating a PowerPoint presentation for a user.

Microsoft is expanding its AI integration again, enabling anyone to subscribe to a new service called Copilot Pro, which will be used in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. That means you can do things like generate full slideshows in Powerpoint with just a few words typed into the chatbot.

Having generative AI built right into Office apps was an exciting idea when it was announced last year, but so far, it's only available for enterprise accounts as part of Copilot in Microsoft 365. Now, that option is available for all Microsoft 365 and Office customers, but it won't be free.

Computing

I tried Microsoft Office on my Quest 3 and came away disappointed

Most features, like adjusting a document's layout in Word, work fine on a Quest 3.

For documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, Office is the go-to suite of apps many rely on. Trying to work on a small laptop screen can be restrictive, so Microsoft teamed up with Meta to bring owners of the excellent new Quest 3 a potential solution to work in VR.

I previously attempted to get real work done using my Quest Pro for a week and, more recently, with the faster Quest 3 as a laptop replacement. In each case, there were problems that were best solved by wirelessly connecting my VR headset to a computer, making it more of a monitor replacement.

Deals

This lifetime Microsoft Office license is $50 off for Black Friday

Computer user touching on Microsoft Word icon to open the program.

Today is the day we've all been waiting for, and as the Black Friday deals keep rolling out, people are scooping up laptops left and right. To complement all of the Black Friday laptop deals, Best Buy is offering an incredible deal on Microsoft Office 2021 Home & Student Edition. Originally priced at $150, you can currently purchase a lifetime license today for only $100, saving you $50, or 33%, off this must-have productivity software package. This deal is one of the Best Buy Black Friday deals you definitely won't want to miss, especially if you've got students or someone who works from home on your 2022 holiday shopping list.

This deal is without a doubt one of the best Microsoft Office deals we've seen all year. Microsoft Office is the industry standard when it comes to productivity software and that has been the case for decades. As part of this software package, you'll gain lifetime access to the essential Microsoft Office classics: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. The one-time purchase comes with one license that can be installed on one device, but can be transferred to another device should you decide to upgrade your computer in the future.