From: aa699@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Tony Thomas)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Corel Draw CD-ROM Edition (Reviewed by Tony Thomas)
Date: 2 Sep 1992 11:08:50 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: aa699@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Tony Thomas)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu



COREL DRAW 3.0
CD-ROM Edition
 
Reviewed by Tony Thomas
 
 
The CD-ROM is the perfect vehicle for the distribution of huge software
packages that require eons to install and that come with a tall stack of
floppies.  It is surprising that so few companies have taken advantage
of its capabilities.  To date, only a handful of packages like
Timeworks' Publish It 2.0, OS/2 2.0, Microsoft Works, Microsoft
Word/Bookshelf and Corel Draw have come out in CD-ROM form.
 
After searching for professional draw package for a while, I decided to
get the new Corel Draw 3.0 on CD-ROM.  Its tremendous design power,
ability to run from CD-ROM, and my dwindling hard disk space made it an
obvious choice.  Corel Draw is much more than just a draw package,
however.  It comes bundled with a licensed version of Z Soft's
Photofinish (sans scanner support) dubbed Corel Photo-Paint (a bitmap
and photo editor), Corel Trace (a tracing package), Corel Chart (a
charting package), Corel Show (a  presentation package), Corel Mosiac (a
graphics file manager which also supports Kodak's Photo CD file
conversions), Corel Capture (a screen capture utility), a nice set of
file conversion filters, plus 250 Truetype and ATM fonts (all fonts are
in both formats and each font collection consumes over 10MB of hard disk
space), Corel's proprietary fonts and 14,000+ pieces of clip art.  The
package is well integrated and uses OLE and DDE throughout which also
allows you to to link up with other Windows applications supporting
those features.
 
With all that software, it should come as no surprise that Corel takes
over 30+ MB of hard disk space to install, and that is for a minimal
installation.  If you have the space available, you may want to opt to
install it on your hard disk for speedier performance.  If 30+ MB is too
high a price to pay, you can do what I did - run it directly from
CD-ROM.  Sure, you will suffer a performance penalty--when loading from
CD, Corel takes about a minute to boot--but it is bearable since disc
reads after boot up are minimal.  Processor speed and cache will
probably effect program  performance more than CD-ROM access speed.  You
don't get off scott free, however, since Corel installs about 750K worth
of essential files on your hard disk when you choose the CD-ROM
installation option.
 
The vast resources you gain (font, symbol, clip art, texture and
graphics libraries) are immense when using CD-ROM.  For example, all
fonts can reside on your CD-ROM and can be accessed when needed (if
installed in Font Manager) by the Corel suite of applications as well as
any other Windows application.  The floppy version of Corel only
contains a fraction of the resources found on CD-ROM even though it is
priced similarly (it does come with a bonus CD-ROM, though).
 
With the package you get a helpful VHS tutorial video, a hefty manual, a
directory of graphics, symbols and clip art, a small command guide, a
graphics ruler, and a catalog of coupons for other computer art
products.
 
I only have a few gripes with the Corel Draw package.  First of all,
upon installation, the program installs all 250 or so Truetype fonts.
Even though the fonts reside on the CD-ROM and the ______.FOT font
definition files copied to your hard disk are small (about 1.3K each),
this adds considerably to your Windows boot time.  My system, which
usually takes 30 seconds to boot into Windows takes 2-3 minutes to boot
with all fonts installed.  After installing Corel, I had to go through
the tedious process of uninstalling all the fonts I didn't need, leaving
about 30 of the Corel Truetype fonts plus the Windows collection on my
hard drive.  Of course, I still have the option of adding fonts as
needed from CD-ROM by installing them from the Control Panel on the fly.

Also, I would have liked to see an array of installation options, a la
carte style, allowing you to devote more hard disk space to parts of the
program that you use most often to speed up performance.  Finally, I
wish that Corel would have included a set of laminated command cards and
font lists.  I made my own by copying the command summary booklet,
reducing it and laminating the xerox copies.  It only cost about $4 at
my local supply store to have the entire set laminated.
 
The Corel Draw 3.0 CD-ROM edition (with a street price of less than
$400) is a supreme bargain considering all the powerful tools you get: a
top shelf draw program, paint program/photo editor, chart program,
presentation program, trace program, screen capture utility and graphics
file manager.  To duplicate what is included in this package would cost
double or triple the street price.  It is easy to use, well integrated
and will make you look great on paper, even if you have limited graphics
skills.  Five Stars *****
 
Contact: Corel Corporation, 1600 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario,
CANADA, K1Z 8R7.  Phone: (613) 728-8200.  FAX: (613) 728-9790.

-- 
aa699@Cleveland.Freenet.EDU/GEnie=A.THOMAS16/Compuserve:71541,3456
TONY THOMAS - SIGop - Audio Arts SIG - Cleveland FreeNet
"True riches is not what you have - It's the kind of person you are"

Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom