Microsoft and Corel Form Strategic Alliance

Corel and Microsoft today announced a strategic partnership that has the Redmond Giant purchasing 24 million non-voting convertible preferred shares at a total cost of $135 million USD. This equates to 24.6% of Corel's outstanding common shares if MS chooses to convert them. According to the press release from Corel, the two companies will be jointly developing and testing new products related to the .Net strategy, and marketing cooperation at trade shows and the like. In addition to these points, certain legal issues are going to be resolved between the competitors. Read the press release over at Corel for more information.