Corel chairman Mike Cowpland has poured cold water on the rumour that his company was being stalked by Red Hat, adding somewhat improbably that it was Corel's new product announcements that sent its stock soaring, rather than Red Hat's alleged interest. Instead, Cowpland expects increased revenue to be feeding through soon, and is making noises about Corel buying-in new technology, rather than being acquired itself. In his view, it appears, Corel is now a stable financial proposition with prospects, and doesn't need to get together with anybody else. This might however turn out to be a little bit premature. Corel does now seem to be in a position to benefit from the Linux boom, but the company's had a rocky road to follow over the past few years, and has had to undergo a deal of refocusing. The situation now might look a lot better than it was, but it's early days to be shouting 'renaissance' too loudly. ®