I have used both CorelDraw and Illustrator since the earliest versions and am using the current versions. I won't repeat the great write-ups (right-ups?) earlier in this conversation that definitively and correctly illustrate the differences. As an industrial designer that designs point of purchase displays, CorelDraw wins hands down.
Aside from those attributes listed above, I have two reasons for making this blog entry: one practical - CorelDraw is terribly faster for my work, and one altruistic - I dislike most aspects of Adobe from their culture to their practices relating to their software that doesn't always work anyway. Illustrator sells because it's the best thing that will work on a Mac. Period.
Details: My work entails creating a presentation drawing to sell the job and then communicate with the maker-types to create a prototype. Follow-up drawings are a dream where in Illustrator it is a chore. Finally, contract drawings are created which amount to engineering drawings. I used to do this in an Autodesk CAD program but 'Draw can do it faster and cheaper. Illustrator can almost do it, and it is like pulling teeth. Most graphic artists that work with me do not agree with all my views. But in almost 30 years of using computer design programs as a free lance CorelDraw has always been a clear choice for me.