WordPerfect Mail Now Available     

Alternative e-mail promises quick search capabilities.

By Brenda Castillo

As an addition to its WordPerfect Office family, Corel Corp. launched WordPerfect Mail, a renamed version of Bloomba 2.0 that functions as a standalone e-mail client. The new program became available in May as part of WordPerfect Office 12 Small Business Edition, and as a standalone e-mail application July 12.

WordPerfect Mail targets legal professionals, small businesses and home consumers. “WordPerfect Office is very popular in these market segments, and these customers requested that we release a full-featured e-mail alternative that helps users find information quickly,” said Mark Rathwell, product manager for WordPerfect Office. He said the search capabilities are powerful and fast, which is critical for the legal market.

Bloomba, an e-mail application focused on search and other advanced features, was created by Stata Laboratories Inc., which Yahoo Inc. acquired in October 2004. Corel already had reached an agreement with Stata to sell the Bloomba application under its own brand name before Yahoo acquired the company.

WordPerfect Mail features speedy search capabilities allowing users to find information anywhere, including in folders, the calendar and contact lists. According to Rathwell, searches that can take four or five minutes in a product such as Microsoft Outlook might only take seconds in WordPerfect Mail.

The program also features Really Simple Syndication connectivity and manages RSS feeds with a feature called SmartGroups, which helps users organize information. Users also can import e-mail, folders, calendars and contacts from other e-mail applications, including Microsoft Outlook, Netscape and Eudora. WordPerfect Mail has filing and mailing list capabilities, as well as spam protection.

Corel had not offered e-mail since it discontinued Corel Central in April 2003 after the release of WordPerfect Office 11. Rathwell said the decision to eliminate Corel Central from the suite came at a time when trends in e-mail were driving toward more fully featured e-mail products and free, Web-based e-mail clients. “The popularity of these alternative e-mail options over Corel Central led us to discontinue the development of this
e-mail client, focusing instead on building close integration with Outlook and other enterprise-class solutions,” he said.

But as technology advanced, Rathwell said it became clear there was significant demand for an alternative to Microsoft Outlook, as well as a complete WordPerfect Office Suite. “As a result, we set out to find a best of breed solution to meet their needs, and we have found that product,” Rathwell said.   

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