Corel, Conducent, Offer Ad-Supported Word Perfect Suite

Software developer Corel Corp. on Tuesday tapped ads-in-software player Conducent to help it create an advertising-supported version of the Word Perfect word processing suite.

The new version of the program will be bundled with ten million new computers being shipped worldwide, including those being distributed by the PC Chips Group of Companies.

Conducent, as well as competitors like Radiate Inc., and Cydoor Technologies, are working with software developers to place ads in software, helping them offset their costs. For Conducent, this deal is a big one in that Corel (CORL) is one of the more well-known software developers with which it has worked. For Corel, this represents an attempt to bring in new revenue streams at a time when Microsoft’s Office (MSFT) suite dominates the market.

The advertisements — placed by companies such as Oracle, Zkey, Individual.com and Columbia House — will appear when any of the applications within the suite are launched. The ads are designed to disappear once a user starts to work on a project.

“With this partnership, Corel is able to deliver the power and performance of Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 to a whole new audience at no extra charge,” said Carey Stanton, executive vice president of business development at Corel.

The suite includes core applications such as Corel WordPerfect 8, Corel Quattro Pro 8 and Corel Presentations 8.