What do you do while waiting for one of today's large applications to install itself?  This question sprang to mind recently while I waited for a Corel product to complete its installation process.  I found myself reminiscing about the time when the company set about encouraging the uptake of CD media by offering the current version of its graphics software at a cheaper price if you purchased the CD rather than floppy version.

When reviewing hardware I usually start with the dimensions and I suppose the equivalent for software are it's system requirements. Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista (either 32bit or 64bit). After that it's 512MB of Ram, 430MB of hard disc space, a 1024x768 or greater display, a mouse or tablet and a DVD drive. There are four main applications in the box all with the X4 suffix, CorelDRAW, Corel PhotoPaint, Corel PowerTrace and Corel Capture.

Meeting up with an old acquaintance can sometimes be a cultural shock as happened with my first view of the latest version of Corel's Paint Shop Pro Photo product.  Now up to X2 (surely if you are following the Roman numeral sequence then this should be XII), has been given a new set of clothes with a graphite grey coloured interface.  If this new colour for the interface is not to your taste then you can revert to the familiar old style colour scheme.

Continuing the process of integrated the recently acquired Ulead titles into its portfolio of products, Corel has released VideoStudio 11 Plus.  This product brings video editing and DVD authoring capabilities to the Corel family.

New Owners, Latest Version A change of ownership for Ulead brings a new version of its video editing and slideshow creating software. The latest version of , for creating video and slideshow disc, marks its introduction as a Corel product.

With my first disk-based computer I was able to fit the operating system, along with a word processor and various documents on a single floppy disk that had a storage capacity of 180K.  Those were the days when tight code and other constraints meant that we had little need to consider any form of compression when transferring data from one location to another.

I was recently at the NEC in Birmingham for a camera show, however Corel invited me to a presentation on Painter X, it was a demonstration done by a US portrait painter who uses Painter and also teaches it. As with all demos you need to take them with more than a pinch of salt.

Of course being Corel they have to 'add value' and they have done so here by including a 'light' copy of Snapfire Plus called 'SE' and two hours worth of training videos from a company called Lynda.com, in case you are worried they might not be suitable for the children they cover people using . As for Snapfire it is possible to download a copy of Snapfire for free.

As the first offering from its next-generation modular digital imaging platform, code-named "Alta", Corel has released Snapfire.  This product is available as a free download ( ) in its vanilla flavour or as a boxed Corel Snapfire Plus version.  This review is based on the commercial Plus edition of the product. www.snapfire.

With the latest release of , Corel has not only increased the version number (still sticking with Roman numerals) but also added the word "Photo" to the title.  I'm tempted to say that you certainly get a lot of "P's" for your money but perhaps not.

The two main components are WordPerfect and Quattro that's two thirds of WordPerfect Office X3. However far from that being that you also get a range of other items some full packages and some limited time offerings. These two items are the full products as found in the main package WordPerfect Office X3 the only main missing component is Word Perfect Presentations.

After installation - you only use CD1 or the three provided - at the first run you have a choice to make which of four interfaces do you want to use. The choices are WordPerfect mode, Microsoft Word mode, WordPerfect Classic mode (that's the DOS product that ruled the word 5.1) or Legal mode. I suspect most today will choose Microsoft Word mode as at schools and colleges that is what is mainly taught.

Although perhaps not the dominant force it once was in the graphics market, the arrival of the latest version of Corel's flagship product is still a worthwhile event.  (either a marketing ploy or a means of avoiding the superstition attached to number 13) is aimed at professional, business and other users who want powerful graphics tools at a reasonable price.

A Rip Van Winkle character going to sleep in the 80s and waking up today would immediately notice a big difference with the leading Office applications.  Actually lots of other differences would also be evident but for the purpose of this review lets concentrate on the main Office software.

While Corel Painter is an excellent product, it can be rather daunting for the novice user or those who are just interested in dabbling in the media. As a result Corel has come up with Painter Essentials 3. This home art studio product is based on Corel Painter IX and has been designed to provide an environment that will lead users into the world of digital art.

However the box has a large 'Microsoft Office Compatible' notice and for any younger person to consider it this is a requirement. The box says there are eight packages in the box, my take would be somewhere between 7½ and 7¾ as any time limited version -as one product is- can not be considered anything like a full product.