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Microsoft Corp.'s acquisition of Vermeer Technologies Inc. shows how hot the marketplace has become for Web authoring tools.
Microsoft hopes to bring Web publishing to Microsoft Office users and paid $130 million for the opportunity, analysts said. Microsoft and Vermeer officials would not comment beyond saying the deal was a stock swap, but others said the price paid was apparently a bit excessive.
"They tipped their hand rushing to get such expertise in-house," said a Corel Corp. official, who asked not to be named. Corel, Ottawa, was on the verge of licensing Vermeer's FrontPage client tool when Microsoft bought the company, and at press time was looking elsewhere for alternative strategies.
Adobe Systems Inc., Mountain View, Calif., also considered Vermeer and rejected it in favor of Ceneca Communications Inc., which it acquired last fall. Through Ceneca, Adobe is shipping PageMill and SiteMill for the Macintosh and will ship Windows versions this summer.
Adobe Internet products...