Wordperfect Corp is pressing ahead with plans to establish an office in Russia by the year end, despite the Novell Inc takeover, according to Michael Corey Freebairn, regional director of Africa, India, the Middle East and, currently, Eastern Europe. However he said that it remains up in the air as to whether the company would […]
Wordperfect Corp is pressing ahead with plans to establish an office in Russia by the year end, despite the Novell Inc takeover, according to Michael Corey Freebairn, regional director of Africa, India, the Middle East and, currently, Eastern Europe. However he said that it remains up in the air as to whether the company would share its facilities with Novell or push ahead with its previous plan and open up offices independently in Russia, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Romania and Bulgaria – where the firm is now working solely through distributors. Novell is also working to establish direct representation in the region. Poland, where it set up an office at the end of 1993, remains Wordperfect’s biggest market according to Freebairn, with the Czech Republic and Russia (where software piracy is estimated at 98%) close behind. Freebairn has held discussions with the Business Software Alliance regarding the possibility of establishing a branch in Russia. Bob Clough, managing director of Microsoft Corp Russia, is understood to have agreed to chip in $5,000 and the Alliance’s European arm $10,000, to get the ball rolling.
