PUBLIC OBJECT

CorelDraw 11 for Mac is dead

I get the feeling that a recent software update for Mac OS X 10.4 has broken compatibility with CorelDraw 11, causing Corel Draw 11 to crash on startup. My Mac OS X crash reporter message looks like this:

Exception:  EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes:      KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000000

Thread 0 Crashed:
0   com.apple.CoreFoundation        0x9073d2c0 CFStringGetCStringPtr + 408
1   CdrPrn.DLL                      0x050f8374 GetDefaultPrinterName__11WPrnPrinterFP7CStringP7CStringP7CString + 116
2   CdrPrn.DLL                      0x050dfa68 _ct__11WPrnJobInfoFP12WPrnDocument + 216
3   CdrPrn.DLL                      0x0510545c _ct__12WPrnSettingsFv + 236
4   CdrPrn.DLL                      0x050ce448 _ct__12WPrnDocumentFP18WPrnEngineInstance + 88
5   CdrPrn.DLL                      0x050d9a44 AddDocument__18WPrnEngineInstanceFv + 52
6   CdrPrn.DLL                      0x050d79c0 CreateNewDocument__18WPrnEngineInstanceFPP12IPrnDocument + 128
7   Draw.DLL                        0x0497a2f8 InitDocument__8CDrawDocFv + 568
8   Draw.DLL                        0x04979e5c OnNewDocument__8CDrawDocFv + 124
9   MacPort.DLL                     0x0052c5c8 OpenDocumentFile__17CMultiDocTemplateFPCci + 264
10  Draw.DLL                        0x048b219c OnNew__5CDrawFv + 268
11  Draw.DLL                        0x04916600 ExecuteUsersOpenMethod__5CDrawFv + 880
12  Draw.DLL                        0x049142d0 InitInstance__5CDrawFv + 3104
13  Draw.DLL                        0x04964b28 StartApp + 216
14  Corel Draw App                  0x000c0a80 WinMain__FP11HINSTANCE__P11HINSTANCE__Pci + 176
15  Corel Draw App                  0x000c0ba0 main + 192

In debugging the problem, I tried everything google had to offer:

  • [Pressing shift](http://www.macintouch.com/tiger19.html) while the app starts up to "overwrite my workspace with the factory default"
  • [Deleting the preferences files](http://support.allume.com/techsupport/questions.php) in `/Users/jessewilson/Library/CorelDRAW 11 Preferences` and `com.corel.DRAW.plist`

    I also tried some other strategies which all failed:

  • Logging in as a brand new Mac OS X user to get a fresh set of preferences
  • Rebooting my Mac
  • Downloading the [latest update](http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Downloads/Download&cid=1047022889007&pid=1047022888296) to Corel Draw 11\. 693

    So what are my options?

  • Spend $2000 on an Intel Mac, $400 on a Windows emulator, and $400 for the latest Corel Draw for Windows
  • Try to find a copy of Corel Draw 10 for Mac on Amazon or ebay, cross my fingers and install that one
  • Hope some Internet surfer posts the fix in my blog comments!