HP Ditches Microsoft Office from its New Line of Computers

As we reported previously, Hewlett-Packard is releasing its new consumer computer line, Pavilion, which includes four new models. The groundbreaking news announced today by HP is that its Pavilion line will not offer Microsoft Office as the standard installation, but will instead offer Canadian software developer Corel's WordPerfect Productivity Pack, starting with its September shipments of Pavilion models. Included in the WordPerfect Productivity Pack will be WordPerfect's word processing application, and the Quattro Pro spreadsheet program. The inclusion of the Quattro Pro program in a consumer basic package is a plus, since most consumer computers ship with Microsoft's Works package. Works does not include a spreadsheet application.

Corel may also expand its deal with HP to include the WordPerfect Productivity suite on Compaq's Presario line of consumer computers, now that HP has acquired Compaq. WordPerfect has long been a Microsoft competitor and remained so until Novell acquired it in the mid-1990s; Novell then sold WordPerfect to Corel in 1996. WordPerfect is also being offered as the standard on Sony's budget and top-end computers, and since 2001, Dell Computer Corporation has offered Corel software in its Smart Step computers and currently in its Dimension computers. WordPerfect Productivity suite is expected to compete head-on with Microsoft's Office XP, and will offer a retail savings of about $100US over Office XP. The consumer version of WordPerfect suite will compete with Microsoft's Works, for a consumer retail savings of about $30US.