Was it really only a scant few years ago that Silicon Valley was booming, dot-coms were the next big things and Nortel shares were trading at more than $100?

Alas, there's nothing like a pinch of reality to pop an overinflated hype bubble. Yet not all software vendors that have fallen on hard times in recent years have succumbed to bankruptcy. In fact, Canadian software firms--MediSolution and Ormed--are proof that turnarounds are possible.