Article of the Month

A Modest Proposal for
Reviving Ventura Publisher

When new president Derek Burney delivered his January 23 presentation on Corel’s refocused goals and visions, no mention was made of VENTURA Publisher, Corel’s venerable desktop publishing program. This created a stream of disgruntled e-mail and on-line commentary, and Corel officials quickly took measures to assure loyal users that the program was at least still on the radar screen. One of the steps Corel took was to ask a core group of loyal users to put their heads together and suggest a course of action. Here is the result of that effort.

No one person can be credited with authoring this piece. Its roots can be traced back to several sources, including Corel’s C_TECH team of volunteer technical support assistants, discussions on Bob van Duuren’s ventura-d message list, Rick Altman’s CorelWORLD Forum bulletin board, the Corel newsgroups, and ultimately making grist for many late-night and a few transcontinental telephone calls.

If you were to look up “irony” in the dictionary, it would not say “Please see VENTURA Publisher.” It should. Few programs in the history of software have lived the kind of life that VENTURA knows…

Became the darling of the new and explosive desktop publishing industry.
Spawned many companies, including Corel Corp., which got its start in software by creating add-on utilities for the DOS version known as GEM Ventura Publisher.
Mismarketed by Xerox and allowed to founder
Saved by Corel Corp.
Mismarketed by Corel and allowed to founder.
Presently in a coma and on life-support.

Few people seem to really know what to do with this program, largely ignored and at the same time widely believed to be the most powerful applicaiton ever created. Corel officials have acknowledged that they themselves are searching for the right recipe for VENTURA.

First, there is Corel Corp.

Saving VENTURA requires both a short-term and long-term view. While VENTURA could play a profound role in the long-term prosperity of the company, it will play a lesser role in the company’s immediate plans. Corel must continue its efforts to return to viability and profitability, and in light of Corel’s latest announcements about Linux and WordPerfect, that job falls squarely on the shoulders of CorelDRAW, most notably, the Windows version.

It has been a circuitous route through WordPerfect, Java, various hardware detours, and Linux, but now most observers agree that Corel will win or lose its battle for prominence by using as its primary weapon the program that got it to the battleground in the first place. CorelDRAW is what Corel does best. It is the centerpiece of Corel’s future.

Yet at the same time, CorelDRAW could fit into a strategy of a larger scale, one that could bring a unity and completeness to Corel’s product line that the company has never known. The centerpiece of that vision is VENTURA.

Market Forces, Market Uncertainty

In a major presentation delivered to then-President Michael Cowpland, the C_TECH team of volunteer specialists offered convincing evidence about the direction and the vulnerability of the desktop publishing marketplace:

Adobe’s own research shows that those who publish in a print-only environment comprise less than 25% of all creative professionals, while over 70% publish across multiple media in one fashion or another.
Adobe further estimated the size of the business publishing market to be approximately $500 million annually, and that marketplace is made up almost entirely of Windows-based users.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts an increase in publishing professionals from 26,000 to 44,000 by the year 2008. The Bureau further notes a decrease in graphics and pre-press employment, due to the task of document preparation being incrasingly transfered to non-specialists.
Adobe and Quark do not pay much attention to Corel as a competitor, and do not put forth significant effort to capture the business publishing marketplace.
The business publishing marketplace requires a beginning-to-end solution.
Corel Corp. is the only company in a position to provide that, given its product line that stretches from authoring, through graphics, to publishing.
Corel’s own market research showed that 4% to 10% of WordPerfect users were good candidates for VENTURA. When projected over all wordprocessor users, this data supported the $500 million estimated size of the business publishing market.

They Hate it, But They Use it

Today’s business publisher is reminiscent of the old Listerine commercial: They abhor producing their documents in Microsoft Word, but they use it…twice a day. They know that its file format is ubiquitous, they know they can create HTML quickly, and despite its obvious shortcomings, it does work.

This points to just how low the bar of expectation is set: VENTURA’s chief competition and primary target is not necessarily QuarkXpress or an Adobe product. It’s a wordprocessor. Hundreds of thousands of businesses turn their publishing needs over to a program that is utterly beneath comparison to VENTURA.

Furthermore, many WordPerfect users are exceeding the boundaries of their software’s capability in their quest to produce business documents. Corel can find fertile soil for VENTURA converts in its own backyard. The same can even be said of CorelDRAW users, many of whom use the software to create long newsletters, catalogs, and even books. By positioning VENTURA as DRAW’s “older brother,” it could become a compelling upgrade for many DRAW users.

In any event, there is only one program that offers all of the publishing tools for business publishers from the moment the shrink wrap is cut. And again, there is only one company capable of integrating all facets of electronic publishing with products already in place.

A New Vision

Even before Corel’s house is in order, the company needs to adopt a unified corporate vision with respect to its product line, because this is one of those times when the cliché rings true: The whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Corel should attack the entirety of the business publishing marketplace. Its spokespeople need to constantly extol the virtues of a unified publishing platform:

Don’t ask a wordprocessor to do a job it wasn’t designed for.

Don’t concede to spending hundreds of dollars on add-ons to deficient software.

Choose a graphics package specifically designed to feed into document preparation.

And to cook all of it, use the most powerful software program ever created.

This is the kind of message that can resonate long after it is made. Save powerclips, masks, and frame tags for later; begin with Corel’s totally unique contribution to business publishing.

The power of this strategy is threefold. First, it combines Corel’s strengths into a vision that no other company can duplicate. Second, it can make VENTURA another profitable product for Corel. Corel should be able to capture at least 10%-30% of the business publishing market, which is equivalent to $50-$150 million. Finally, this strategy opens tremendous opportunities for cross-selling between products, giving users a compelling reason to purchase more than one product from Corel.

Preparing for Battle

We are encouraged that the list of improvements and changes needed to the software is not major, but at the same time, we hold no illusions that Corel will be able to write a blank check to cover all that needs to be done. In order of importance:

Improve the Software

VENTURA is already being successfully used in hundreds of businesses, but in order to successfully market the software Corel must show commitment to its future by making a small investment in time and effort to improve on some key areas. Specifically, we recommend:

General bug-fixing. Exhaustive lists of bugs reside with many of the on-line communities, and in Corel’s bugbase.
Usable RTF output to attract unhappy Word users. For starters, consider licensing and integrating John Faunce’s script for importing RTF with graphics in tow.
Demonstration of VENTURA’s strong automation features. Include a range of scripts showing how the products can be used, out of the box, for complex tasks.
Airtight integration with WordPerfect, DRAW, and PHOTO-PAINT. The goal should be the ability to seamlessly move graphics and text created in Corel’s other programs into VENTURA.
Bulletproof import and export, especially in the area of PDF output. VENTURA’s PostScript output must be able to create flawless PDF files, complete with accurate bookmarks and hyperlinks.
Support for XML and Unicode.
Ability to edit tables in Copy Editor view.

The first three items could be easily implemented in a maintenance release, and the remainder incorporated as part of a version 8.5 or 9 release. Everything else can wait for another major release. At that time, Corel should take measures to unify the product line, with the following core features leading the way:

Improve Integration with DRAW

Corel already has the technology and the engine for improving communication between these two programs: Corel’s awesome PostScript output. DRAW is without peer in its ability to import and export PostScript. Corel should tap into that ability for sending graphics from DRAW into VENTURA.

Exceptional Output

Corel products should produce such great PDF files that every user knows to go that route, and service bureaus know to not fear them any longer. Corel should scrutinize the use of a wizard to hold users’ hands, in favor of a comprehensive instructional guide that not only provides step-by-step instructions on creating output, but also empowers users with the skills to do it themselves. Wizards cannot do that.

Taking Action

First, we must state clearly that no specific initiative can be effective without a sense of the big picture. None of this works unless Corel is able to embrace the strategy of the total business publishing solution that its product line delivers. Everything stems from that belief and vision. Having said that, here are specific suggestions that we believe would help Corel realize these goals.

Inside the Company

Retrademark the name: Without throwing away all branding, change the name to VENTURA Professional Publisher to reflect Corel’s belief in the position of the product.
Increase the price: Price VENTURA above DRAW and WordPerfect (but below FrameMaker and its required add-ons). This is not mass-market software; all attempts to place VENTURA in that niche have failed. Customers are willing to pay a premium price for the most important software to their business. Let them.
Create a publishing bundle with DRAW, PAINT, and WordPerfect: “The industry’s only total publishing solution in one box.” This should be called something like the VENTURA Professional Publishing Suite.
Have a true evangelist on the payroll: Do not entrust this to a garden-variety product specialist. This person truly needs to know VENTURA and its competition, and be able to clearly distinguish the unique skills of the program. Kris Khanna was as close as Corel has had.

Out in the Market

Get trial copies into the hands of potential users: Charge a hefty price for the software, but let everyone try it free for a month. Every piece of software that Corel sends out the door should include a trial copy of VENTURA, especially DRAW and WordPerfect. If you burn the demo software directly on the product disks, the costs would be limited to initial setup. This is undoubtedly the most cost-effective way to get the software into the hands of prospective users.
Get customer case studies for the web site and demo CD. For each case study include a sample PDF document, a sample stylesheet, a project description, and a bio of the creator(s). Focus on applications that benefit from the use of VENTURA. Arrange for these customers to demonstrate the software to their peers at shows, events, etc so VENTURA can be seen in action with the types of documents people want to create. Aim the presentations at people in offices, not designers.
Target business solution developers aggressively. If Corel teaches developers about the power of VENTURA as a document automation tool, they will teach their clients and sell copies of VENTURA. As part of this initiative, Corel should be prepared to provide developers with support services, some of which could be offered on a paid subscription basis to cover costs.
Commission market studies and execute a well-targeted marketing plan. Due to the complexity of VENTURA, Corel must determine its key prospects, what messages will resonate most strongly with them, and what vehicles will reach them. The result will undoubtedly be in stark contrast to the mass-marketing approach that is effective for DRAW, but not for VENTURA.
Have a commanding on-line presence. Corel must create an emotional connection with its users that stretches beyond the few hundred who attend CorelWORLD each year. Corel’s users feel a deep connection with the software, but virtually none with company pesonnel. This is an unfortunate waste of an easy opportunity—one that none of Corel’s competitors miss. Adobe, Macromedia, even Quark representatives make concerted efforts to build rapport with a persistent presence in newsgroups and bulletin boards. By contrast, postings by Corel reps are treated as rare sightings instead of common occurrences.
Commission a VP for Dummies book: Or better yet, require Corel Press to offer one.
Cultivate a third-party community of add-on scripts: Start with John Faunce’s script (which is as close as the product gets to having an RTF import/export).
Promote VENTURA’s PDF proficiency: There is no reason why service bureaus should have any cause to look askance at work coming from VENTURA.
Work the WordPerfect user base aggressively: Seek out users whose projects rise to the level of warranting an upgrade to VENTURA.
With the RTF avenue open, hit Word users hard: People are scared to leave the Word orbit because they are afraid that a) it would be too much trouble to convert from Word, or b) it would be too much trouble to return the document to Word. Even if the conversion is not perfect, give Word users the temptation to work with a better tool. The key here is good and predictable conversion, not perfect conversion.
Explore deeper initiatives with Microsoft: Only the people at Corel know whether this is plausible, but from the outside looking in, we think the point could be made that VENTURA should be the professional partner to Word. Microsoft Word has staked a claim to the belly of the business publishing market, but it knows that Word can only go so far. If Word and VENTURA were able to work more cooperatively, it could be the mother lode for both companies.

Finding Strength in Our Beginnings

Corel is at a crossroads. The company has demonstrated that it can develop great software, but it has struggled in recent years. Most outside observers see Corel as an extremely capable company with no direction.

Derek Burney made a subtle acknowledgment of this on January 23, 2001 when he noted that the company has pursued ventures outside of its core competence. Now it is time for Burney’s vision to include how the crown jewels of Corel fit together. VENTURA might not compete with DRAW and WordPerfect in terms of revenues, but it can unite the graphics and business sides of Corel and, in the process, provide Corel with a unique and powerful position in the marketplace.

Our unified vision is simple: Corel can be the one company in the marketplace whose mission is to provide beginning-to-end business publishing solutions. This is fertile ground that has not been claimed, and Corel is the best outfit to claim it.

[Editor’s note: The views and advice expressed here reflect the opinions of members of the VENTURA user community, and were not based on any knowledge of plans, present or future, that Corel Corp. has for the software. No information was used from private conversations, trade secrets, or information received while under a non-disclosure agreement.]

April 2001

A Modest Proposal for Reviving Ventura Publisher