PDA

View Full Version : Microsoft Office Linux edition?



KingBahamut
September 1st, 2005, 03:59 PM
Some prominent figures in the Linux community believe that as enterprises increase their use of Linux on the desktop, Microsoft will be forced to consider offering a version of Office for Linux. "When the [Linux desktop] market share gets to a certain point, Microsoft will, just as it did with Apple in the past, make Office available on Linux," CEO Stuart Cohen of OSDL said in an interview......

My take: Why would we need it anyway? Would it sell? Who would buy it? If it were, would it be FOSS?


Hmmmmmmm

macgyver2
September 1st, 2005, 04:21 PM
My take: Why would we need it anyway? Would it sell? Who would buy it? If it were, would it be FOSS?
I wouldn't buy it. As for whether or not it would be FOSS...if they're selling it in the first place I don't see how they'd ever make it FOSS.

mstlyevil
September 1st, 2005, 04:21 PM
Microsoft already has a whole department that is strictly dedicated to playing with Linux. As more Governments and Corporate customers move to linux, there may be more of a demand for Word products for Linux. Many bussinesses would move to linux if they were assured that their documents could still be compatible with the word format.
Microsoft is driven by demand and is willing to do anything to make a profit and that includes selling software for competing OS's.

newbie2
September 1st, 2005, 04:28 PM
"Bill Hilf, Microsoft's director of platform technology and the man behind the Linux and Open Source Software Lab at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus, also told eWEEK in a recent interview that Microsoft has not created a prototype of Office for Linux."
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1855010,00.asp

xequence
September 1st, 2005, 06:02 PM
I wouldent buy it, though I dont use office products. If I did id use openoffice.org.

TristanMike
September 1st, 2005, 06:14 PM
I wouldn't buy it either, I would think if it came to that, then Open Office.org(or other open source software) would just get more compatible with Word, or whatever office program, so I'd just use OO.o anyway.

poofyhairguy
September 1st, 2005, 06:15 PM
My take: Why would we need it anyway? Would it sell? Who would buy it?


You would be amazed how many people would switch to Linux if their most used program (Office) was native to the platform.

Wolki
September 1st, 2005, 06:19 PM
My take: Why would we need it anyway? Would it sell? Who would buy it? If it were, would it be FOSS?

MS Office FOSS? Hehe, good one :)

Who would need it? Companies wanting to switch to linux and keeping retraining costs down. People needing 100% compatibility with Office documents (at least until open document formats replace them, which might take a long time). Someone who needs some of the advanced features of office. People who have lots of MS Office macros they need for their work.

Probably not home users though. Though i've met people who simply don't trust OOo, they'll use it but if it costs nothing it can't be as good as a pirated Office, right? ;)

Knome_fan
September 1st, 2005, 06:19 PM
Why would we need it anyway?

Bussinesses, that have been using it for year, have heaps of programs written specifically for MS Office, have their staff trained on MS Office.



Would it sell?

Probably, but that's of course just wildly guessing.



Who would buy it?

See above.



If it were, would it be FOSS?

No. Where did you get that idea?

DancingSun
September 1st, 2005, 06:21 PM
MS Office FOSS? Hehe, good one :)

Who would need it? Companies wanting to switch to linux and keeping retraining costs down. People needing 100% compatibility with Office documents (at least until open document formats replace them, which might take a long time). Someone who needs some of the advanced features of office. People who have lots of MS Office macros they need for their work.

Probably not home users though. Though i've met people who simply don't trust OOo, they'll use it but if it costs nothing it can't be as good as a pirated Office, right? ;)
Word.

Spacecaptain
September 1st, 2005, 06:32 PM
You would be amazed how many people would switch to Linux if their most used program (Office) was native to the platform.

I think that us atomized linux users wouldn't buy a MSOffice for linux as we don't have much reason to do so. OO is just good enough for most of our uses.
The question would be how many companies or organisation would switch over if that suit was made available?
Companies are more reliant on external input so that compatibility with MSOffice is a sine-qua-non requisit. Administrations are more into internal consitency and standard formats, so that change is possible as it spans through the whole organisation, almost by dictat. Anyway, such changes take geological time-frames to get implemented. :grin:
In any instance, i think that at this moment, the only organisations that would make the change are the ones with a strong hierarchical structure as they would have to impose it to it's users (as most of them would probably never have imagined to use linux by themselves).

blastus
September 2nd, 2005, 07:30 AM
IF Microsoft decided to create a Linux version of MS-Office, they would only do it to further facilitate locking consumers into that product. If there was ever a product that is an example of vendor lock-in, it is MS-Office with its CLOSED PROPRIETARY DATA FORMATS. There is no chance in hell that MS would create such a product that uses completely open formats...

Analyst: MS Office Formats Not Open (http://www.betanews.com/article/Analyst_MS_Office_Formats_Not_Open/1107211516)

...because it would mean that a commerical company could build a competing product without resorting to REVERSE ENGINEERING (which can have legal implications.) Right now, MS-Office provides the best of both worlds for Microsoft; locking consumers into MS-Windows and MS-Office--the world's most fatest cash cows to ever graze the pastures in Redmond.

Why would MS-Office be useful to some people on Linux? Two reasons; advanced MS-Excel features and MS-Access. A lot of companies use MS-Excel and MS-Access internally for all kinds of things.

bjweeks
September 2nd, 2005, 07:59 AM
It will be a cold day in hell that Microsoft ports Office to linux.

GoA
September 2nd, 2005, 08:53 AM
I would definetly use it they would launch office for linux. The reason is only that I have get used to it and I don't want to learn to use something with different GUI such as openoffice. Also I don't trust to openoffice filetypes because they haven't got any help from microsoft, so I don't do any important work thing with them.

benplaut
September 2nd, 2005, 09:03 AM
i'd get it... i might even buy it! :roll:


Impress is just not good enough, period.

Thanks goodness for CXoffice [-X

bored2k
September 2nd, 2005, 09:39 AM
For compatibility issues, I would want it. I didn't signed a book that said I could not use software by Microsoft. I like MS Office 2003. If it comes available, why not? Heh.

npaladin2000
September 2nd, 2005, 10:56 AM
While I like OO Writer a lot, the spreadhseet is hit-or-miss compared to Excel, and Impress's importation of powerPoint presentations is a bit poor (embedded audio never seems to make it). MS Office (And IE) would be welcomed on Linux by a lot of organizations and would make for excellent competition, not that they could ever get ActiveX working through Linux's security structure.

However, that's why Microsoft won't do it. Their corporate mentality (unwritten and undisclosed as it would be illegal) is to avoid actual competition at all costs, laws not withstanding. It must be discredited or destroyed or absorbed, as actual competition requires spending money to improve products. Money that would be better spent as a Bill Gates tax-deduction ;)

Jussi Kukkonen
September 2nd, 2005, 11:37 AM
"When the [Linux desktop] market share gets to a certain point, Microsoft will, just as it did with Apple in the past, make Office available on Linux,"

The situation is very different... Apple does not run on the same hardware as Windows, while Linux is a direct competitor.

If Office for Linux existed, Microsoft would lose their main method of lock-in. As IE (the other method of lock-in) is already losing ground, I can't see MS releasing Linux-Office. Not until the market shares change very substantially...

KingBahamut
September 2nd, 2005, 03:24 PM
The situation is very different... Apple does not run on the same hardware as Windows, while Linux is a direct competitor.

If Office for Linux existed, Microsoft would lose their main method of lock-in. As IE (the other method of lock-in) is already losing ground, I can't see MS releasing Linux-Office. Not until the market shares change very substantially...

The Apple Comment - not too long and apple will be intel based machines. So, They will become a direct compeititor.

Brunellus
September 2nd, 2005, 03:29 PM
I would definetly use it they would launch office for linux. The reason is only that I have get used to it and I don't want to learn to use something with different GUI such as openoffice. Also I don't trust to openoffice filetypes because they haven't got any help from microsoft, so I don't do any important work thing with them.
the openoffice format is more robust than word; it exports to any number of other formats nicely, as well. and to top it all off, sxw files are half the size of doc files.

My Dad, a long-time MS Word user, has been convinced.

BUying microsoft would have been too expensive for him--hes' now semiretired, consulting independently, and he's willing to learn something a bit different to save money.

stoffe
September 2nd, 2005, 03:34 PM
The Apple Comment - not too long and apple will be intel based machines. So, They will become a direct compeititor.
Not really, the machines will still be "Apple specials" - that is, Mac OS X will not run other machines (any clever hacks aside, which doesn't really count in this discussion :)). For all practical purposes, business models and practices will be the same, meaning you can't just toss OS X on your computer instead.

KingBahamut
September 2nd, 2005, 03:39 PM
Not really, the machines will still be "Apple specials" - that is, Mac OS X will not run other machines (any clever hacks aside, which doesn't really count in this discussion :)). For all practical purposes, business models and practices will be the same, meaning you can't just toss OS X on your computer instead.
Well I hardly think that anyone in this group, myself included, is anything but utterly practical.

Still, I laud your point.

poofyhairguy
September 2nd, 2005, 05:09 PM
The question would be how many companies or organisation would switch over if that suit was made available?
.

I would say a lot. Especially ones with Win 2K because their machines are too old for XP.

nic2
September 2nd, 2005, 05:46 PM
The following insert appeared in the July/August 2005 publication of tectonic (South Africa's first open source magazine / http://www.tectonic.co.za/):

Microsoft: No plans to port
Don't expect Microsoft Office for Linux any time soon

"I would not be surprised to see them [Microsoft] participate in software that runs on top of Linux in the near future ... I anticipate that as open source software grows, Microsoft will make its applications available in open source form."
Stuart Cohen, CEO Open Source Development Labs Forum via video link from Portland, Oregon.

Cohen's comments caused a furore of speculation, which Microsoft was quick to denounce:
"With specific regards to speculation that Microsoft may begin developing applications to run on open source platforms, I do want to confirm that Microsoft does not have any plans to port applications to Linux."
Katherine Clouse, spokesperson from the Wagener Edstrom Rapid Response Team for Microsoft, quoted in the Newsfactor Technology News.

"We have and will continue to make our strategic bets on the Windows platform. Simply put, we believe that Windows provides greater business value and lower longterm costs for the customers than competing platforms, including Linux,"
Martin Taylor, Microsoft's general manager of platform strategy, also in Newsfactor.

Lord Illidan
September 2nd, 2005, 05:57 PM
OpenOffice, while improving, is no match for Ms Office..
Sure, the .sxw file formats are good, and compatibility is excellent. Also, it is free, and can export to pdf.

However, while Microsoft Word and OO's Writer may be on a par, the other parts of the suite are drastically behind their Microsoft counterparts.

The lack of VBA for one thing, is a big hit. Companies who have written their macros for Ms Office will not switch to OOffice for that one reason.

Ms Powerpoint is many times better than Impress. More animations, better sound... it beats it.

I have not seen its spreadsheet but I am not convinced that it is as good as Excel..

Sure, it might not be FOSS, but if it comes out for Linux, I would consider it. Open Source is not a religion, we are not obliged to use it. If a commercial application is better, then it is more practical to use the commercial app.

Brunellus
September 2nd, 2005, 06:17 PM
OpenOffice, while improving, is no match for Ms Office..
Sure, the .sxw file formats are good, and compatibility is excellent. Also, it is free, and can export to pdf.

However, while Microsoft Word and OO's Writer may be on a par, the other parts of the suite are drastically behind their Microsoft counterparts.

The lack of VBA for one thing, is a big hit. Companies who have written their macros for Ms Office will not switch to OOffice for that one reason.

Ms Powerpoint is many times better than Impress. More animations, better sound... it beats it.

I have not seen its spreadsheet but I am not convinced that it is as good as Excel..

Sure, it might not be FOSS, but if it comes out for Linux, I would consider it. Open Source is not a religion, we are not obliged to use it. If a commercial application is better, then it is more practical to use the commercial app.
VBA has also historically been a security liability for MS office.

Although you are right; my firm wouldn't migrate to OOO simply because of the dozens of VBA macros already in use here. *ugh*.

blastus
September 2nd, 2005, 08:47 PM
I would definetly use it they would launch office for linux. The reason is only that I have get used to it and I don't want to learn to use something with different GUI such as openoffice. Also I don't trust to openoffice filetypes because they haven't got any help from microsoft, so I don't do any important work thing with them.

OpenOffice file formats are based on an open standard--the
OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office). OpenOffice file formats are ZIP files with XML files in them.

In contrast, MS-Office file formats are closed-binary proprietary trade secrets that can only be reliably and fully read/written by MS-Office. Microsoft may never fully support open formats in MS-Office and they certainly will never tell you that you can trust an OPEN DOCUMENT FORMAT like the one OpenOffice natively uses. :roll: Of course Microsoft does not want to open up MS-Office file formats because it's not in their best interest as it would help reduce vendor lock-in to MS-Office.

MS-Office filetypes have the following characteristics:

- they can only be reliably accessed, read or written to by MS-Office--try using Equation Editor and WordArt diagrams in an MS-Word document then importing them into OpenOffice
- they are designed to lock you into MS-Office because you can only use MS-Office to reliably access, read, or write them--designing products that lock you into them is the modus operandi of Microsoft
- they are designed to tie you to Microsoft--access to your data is dependent on Microsoft trade secrets--not on an OPEN FORMAT that everyone understands
- they almost ensure a compatibility problem in the future--governments are starting to realize this truth and are looking for and demanding the use of OPEN FORMATS (http://www.mass.gov/eoaf/open_formats_comments.html) in goverment
- they are bloated--an MS-Word document even containing just plain text can be 10 times the size of an XML document containing the same plain text--if you factor embedded images into it, the size of an MS-Word document can go through the roof while an OpenOffice document with embedded images is handled just fine
- they can contain hidden and personal information including previous document revisions--this is a proven fact and is why businesses need to be careful when using MS-Office file formats to exchange documents with another businesses or the world
- they are known carriers for malware, sorry it's just too easy to create VBA code that autoruns when a document is loaded that can trash your entire hard drive

In short, there are absolutely no redeeming qualities of MS-Office file formats.

Kyral
September 2nd, 2005, 08:54 PM
I am somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned the "other" Office Suites in the Linux universe, KOffice and "GNOME Office". Okay, I heard that KOffice is really bad, but I use the GNOME Collection and its really nice. And being integrated into GNOME is a plus. And it fires up fast!

poofyhairguy
September 2nd, 2005, 10:56 PM
I am somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned the "other" Office Suites in the Linux universe, KOffice and "GNOME Office". Okay, I heard that KOffice is really bad, but I use the GNOME Collection and its really nice. And being integrated into GNOME is a plus. And it fires up fast!

I like Abiword more than OOwriter (than than Word though...but I refuse to use word). And it is a known fact that Gnumeric is more accurate than OO's program.

drizek
September 3rd, 2005, 12:22 AM
I like Abiword more than OOwriter (than than Word though...but I refuse to use word). And it is a known fact that Gnumeric is more accurate than OO's program.

the best part about OASIS is that it doesnt matter which one you use anymore. they all work together. abi, OOo and koffice all use the same formats now.

as for buying office, lets assume osmeone sent me an office document i would try to

1st choice- Use koffice
2nd choice- use OOo
3rd choice- pirate MS office
4th choice- beat them to death

Takis
September 4th, 2005, 03:16 AM
Doesn't necessarily need to be Microsoft who ports Office:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/02/13/HNlinuxoffice_1.html

Although admittedly that's old news and the project certainly seems to have died between then and now.

KiwiNZ
September 4th, 2005, 08:16 AM
For home use MS Office is just not worth the cost when compared to Open Office.
As for Enterprise , the MS product is more cost effective. As for making it available for linux , time will tell, if the demand is there and a buck can be made I am sure MS will consider it , But right now , not worth the development cost.

Haegin
September 29th, 2005, 07:14 PM
if microsoft release ms office on linux a company may swap if the current network is high maintenence and if it isnt running the latest version of windows.

if companies swap to linux microsoft loses money as companies no longer buy the next version of windows whenever it comes out.

microsoft released office for mac as for a company to upgrade to macs they have to change their hadware - thus incurring extra costs. this discourages companies so they wont swap entirely (hardware + training + running cost = expensive)

there is no monetary anti-incentive for companies switching to linux

therefore some companies would swap

therefore microsoft lose money overall

microsoft is a private owned business and aims to make a profit

therefore it wont make ms office for linux

bob_c_b
September 29th, 2005, 07:21 PM
Some prominent figures in the Linux community believe that as enterprises increase their use of Linux on the desktop, Microsoft will be forced to consider offering a version of Office for Linux. "When the [Linux desktop] market share gets to a certain point, Microsoft will, just as it did with Apple in the past, make Office available on Linux," CEO Stuart Cohen of OSDL said in an interview......
My take: Why would we need it anyway? Would it sell? Who would buy it? If it were, would it be FOSS?
Hmmmmmmm

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but Word and the precursor to Excel were both origninally Mac applications. MS didn't add Mac support for Office later, it was there first, or so I had heard from a somewhat respectable source. This kind of blows the logic of the original argument then.

EDIT: Yep, here it is MS Multiplan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplan). The first version of Excel was for the Mac in 1985 then later in 1987 the first Windows version was born.

mstlyevil
September 29th, 2005, 07:45 PM
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,122722,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp

I do not know why anyone would want to buy MS Word when StarOffice 8 is offering full compatibility with MS Word.

aysiu
September 29th, 2005, 08:27 PM
Home users do not need MS Office, but I can see how some businesses might.

Word has some features that other open office suites do not have (inline grammar check, more options for case change--those are the two I've noticed so far.. and aren't there macros, too?), and if your business needs some of these features, it wouldn't be a bad thing to have MS Office for Linux to help migrate your business to Linux.

That said, there are things the open office suites have that MS Office doesn't--exporting to PDF (or, in the case of KWord, importing PDFs as well to be editable).

Each office should assess its own needs and figure out what office suite suits them best. I'd say for the vast majority of educational (i.e., not corporate) offices, Gnome Office, KOffice, and OpenOffice are more than sufficient in the functionality they offer.

hub
September 29th, 2005, 11:18 PM
You would be amazed how many people would switch to Linux if their most used program (Office) was native to the platform.

I do entirely agree.
I personnaly have to use Excel because most of the work I do is macros and they have to be compatible with my companies' computer.

Does anyone know if there is a project trying to translate automatically basic script in vba?

TravisNewman
September 30th, 2005, 12:12 AM
I wouldn't use it. I use OOo just to keep up with how the development is going. The only "word processor" I've ever gotten formatting exactly how I want it is plain text. There's no bold or italics, but with a fixed width font and no special formatting tricks, you can get text exactly where you want it on a page.

Do I ever think MS will port? Maybe. No time soon, but like the poof said, it would make a lot of people switch.

Glenn Jones
March 12th, 2007, 12:39 PM
Hey,

I'm a recent convert to Ubuntu and I must admit I'm enjoying the experience of open source software. However, I must admit Microsoft Office is a good piece of kit. Seeing that Microsoft have a Mac version of the office software why does it not attempt to sell it on Linux? I'm sure that large corporations would love this and would possibly migrate en-mass to Linux seeing that they are rather reluctant to upgrade to Vista; hence benefiting both parties. I know this post may sound rather anti open source, especially OpenOffice, but I feel that they lags behind Microsoft Office. I guess the other alternative would be if Apple were to invest their resources into OpenOffice and make it the default Office software for OSX.

Paul41
March 12th, 2007, 12:42 PM
I personally prefer OpenOffice to MS Office, but if you would like to use MS Office checkout CodeWeavers http://www.codeweavers.com. It will allow you to run MS Office in Ubuntu using WINE.

Bloch
March 12th, 2007, 12:44 PM
Why do they not attempt to create a linux version?

Because: large corporations would love this and would possibly migrate en-mass to Linux

You answered yourself.

I think Apple would have been on a winner if they backed OpenOffice for OSX.

This is a good articel on exactly this question.

http://digg.com/apple/Why_Doesn_t_Apple_Support_OpenOffice

slimdog360
March 12th, 2007, 12:46 PM
I think MS owns like 20% of Apple

Glenn Jones
March 12th, 2007, 12:57 PM
Thanks Bloch that was a good article. I guess time will tell if Apple decide to port OO with OSX. If they don't I think that they will have missed a golden oppertunity.

jincast90
March 12th, 2007, 01:14 PM
I don't think Apple will ever back up OpenOffice. They have their own Office Suite called iWork.

Gargamella
March 12th, 2007, 01:54 PM
I don't think Apple will ever back up OpenOffice. They have their own Office Suite called iWork.

apple is known for expencive software...a free office suite is only a dream for a mac user

diskotek
March 12th, 2007, 02:26 PM
i think openoffice.org is nice and heavy like ms office. also abiword is fine :)

Hendrixski
March 12th, 2007, 02:38 PM
It's simple economics really. They can't compete on the linux platform. They will be outpefromed, out priced, and all other sorts of outdone by all of the other available options on Linux.

You can get MS office for Linux from CodeWeaver, it's called CrossOver Office or something like that. Essentially a commercialized version of Wine, running Office. :) To prove my point. Most businesses that use Linux, don't use CrossOver. They either use OpenOffice or Google Docs... though, soon, KOffice will be ready for corporate use. That may take off fast.

jcrnan
March 12th, 2007, 02:39 PM
Abiword is definitivly good for just normal writing. For anything beyond that MS Office is quite superior to OpenOffice so I reccomend running it trough vmWare or Crossover.

Detonate
March 12th, 2007, 02:45 PM
Got this email from OO this morning.

OpenOffice.org urges Dell's CEO to respond to customer demand and bundle
OpenOffice.org's free software alternative to Microsoft Office with
Dell's computers.

In an open letter released today, the OpenOffice.org community invites
Michael Dell to work with them to pre-install OpenOffice.org 2 office
software on Dell computers. Dell's own IdeaStorm website has recorded an
overwhelming customer demand for this feature, currently showing over
70,000 requests for OpenOffice.org 2.

The OpenOffice.org community is the home of the leading free software
competitor to Microsoft's Office suite. The letter claims that
OpenOffice.org 2 software and Dell hardware make a perfect match,
sharing identical values of delivering high quality at unbeatable value.
A joint development by Dell and OpenOffice.org raises the prospect of an
"OpenOffice.org supplied by Dell" product, with finance from Dell
helping to built security for the open-source community.

Text of the letter:

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Michael S.Dell, Chairman and CEO
Dell Computer Corporation
One Dell Way
Round Rock, Texas 78682

Dear Michael

Dell Computer Corporation has become one of Fortune's “America’s Most
Admired Companies” by providing great value, high quality computers and
peripherals, but most of all, by listening to your customers. Your
recent “IdeaStorm” initiative is the latest example of this. Here at
OpenOffice.org, we were delighted to see that the second most requested
feature by Dell customers was to have our office software pre-installed
on Dell systems. This request attracted more than 25,000 votes in two
days.

We believe that OpenOffice.org 2 software perfectly matches Dell’s
values. OpenOffice.org 2 is high quality office software, the result of
over twenty years’ continuous software engineering. It runs under all
common operating systems. It offers everything users expect from office
software, plus some bonus features that may pleasantly surprise them.
It’s easy for customers to use, with a familiar look and feel, and can
read and write a wide range of file formats, including Microsoft’s. On
top of all this, being licenced under open-source terms, it represents
outstanding value for money for you and your customers.

Let’s have a conversation about how we could build an “OpenOffice.org
supplied by Dell” product to give your customers what they are asking
for. We’d also be happy to accept any financial contribution that Dell
might offer to help ensure that OpenOffice.org continues to evolve in
the future.

Sincerely

John McCreesh
Marketing Project Lead
OpenOffice.org

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

About OpenOffice.org

The OpenOffice.org Community is an international team of volunteer and
sponsored contributors who develop, support, and promote the leading
open-source office productivity suite, OpenOffice.org®. OpenOffice.org's
leading edge software technology (UNO) is also available for developers,
systems integrators, etc to use in OpenOffice.org extensions or in their
own applications.

OpenOffice.org supports the Open Document Format for Office Applications
(OpenDocument) OASIS Standard (ISO/IEC 26300) as well as legacy industry
file formats and is available on major computing platforms and with
native language support in over 80 languages. OpenOffice.org software is
provided under the GNU Lesser General Public Licence (LGPL) and may be
used free of charge for any purpose, private or commercial.

The OpenOffice.org Community acknowledges generous sponsorship from a
number of companies, including Sun Microsystems, the founding sponsor
and primary contributor.

Press Contacts

Louis Suarez-Potts (UTC -05h00)
OpenOffice.org Community Manager
email louis (at) openoffice.org
+1 (416) 625 3843

John McCreesh (UTC +0h00)
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Lead
email jpmcc (at) openoffice.org
+44 (0)7 810 278 540

Cristian Driga (UTC +0200)
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Co-Lead
email cdriga (at) openoffice.org
+40 7887 000 60

Worldwide Marketing Contacts: http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts

karellen
March 12th, 2007, 02:50 PM
I think that ms office (especially the last version, 2007) it's better than openoffice, objectively speaking, in terms of feature and ease of use...It's a matter of fact. And I like the interface and some fonts from ms office 2007 :D. I'd love to see a linux edition, though probably will never be one

3rdalbum
March 12th, 2007, 03:09 PM
While individuals may love Microsoft Office, corporations and small businesses hate it. You see, they spend a fair pretty penny each year on Office. And this year, they're going to have to spend money retraining staff. It will be more difficult for them to find new staff that have experience in the new office suite, so most new recruits will need to be trained in essential software too. Much cheaper to put them onto OOo for an hour and let them tinker.

Businesses switch to open-source for cost and flexibility reasons. You can't tell me that they will switch to an open-source operating system and then drop a thousand bucks a year on one proprietry software suite.

beefcurry
March 12th, 2007, 03:20 PM
Im sorry to say, but in this feild Vista and Office will be alot ahead of the open source competition. We don't have the money to invest in completely new radical ways to place buttons nor do the open source community have the resources. It would be a good thing if Office came to linux as there would be more competition. However Mac's are innately different from Linux, they have a standard API while linux dosnt. Porting Office to Linux will be a very costly task that I dont think they are going to bother with yet.

Anthem
March 12th, 2007, 04:33 PM
There's already a port of OpenOffice to OSX.... it's called NeoOffice.

http://download.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

But Apple will never push it as a product... as others have said, that's what iWork is for. And honestly, OpenOffice isn't exactly clean, high-quality code. It would probably be easier for Apple to re-write it from scratch. I'd much rather Apple focus insted on adding ODT support to iWork.

Glenn Jones
March 12th, 2007, 05:05 PM
This is all exciting news if Dell decides to port OO with its computers, and depending on how sucessfull it is Dell may decide to help the OO team. From a personal level I think the biggest challange now for the communtiy is to clean code up so that we have fast efficient code right?

Anthem
March 12th, 2007, 05:25 PM
This is all exciting news if Dell decides to port OO with its computers, and depending on how sucessfull it is Dell may decide to help the OO team. From a personal level I think the biggest challange now for the communtiy is to clean code up so that we have fast efficient code right?
Agree that the OpenOffice code is benefiting from cleanup... although supposedly there's still a lot to do there.

But Dell wouldn't need to "port" OpenOffice any more than they'd "port" Microsoft Office. It runs native on Windows.

justin whitaker
March 12th, 2007, 05:25 PM
MS-Office is the standard....even if Open Office were 100% compatible (that is all formats work seamlessly), I doubt that Fortune 500 companies would switch: Office is just not all that expensive to a Microsoft partner.

I really hate what Microsoft does on their operating system level (lockdown), but I do not begrudge them my money if they come up with a superior product...given the choice, on Linux, I would pay for MSOffice. Yes, I have codeweavers, but I would rather run software without a "middleman".

darrenm
March 12th, 2007, 05:35 PM
Doesn't matter anyway, Google Apps is going to make this all redundant http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/27/google_apps_challenge/

Paul41
March 12th, 2007, 05:41 PM
Doesn't matter anyway, Google Apps is going to make this all redundant http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/27/google_apps_challenge/

I use Google Apps for some things, but I can't do everything with it. Maybe with future improvements it will be possible to replace desktop office software, but it isn't there yet.

Quillz
March 12th, 2007, 07:14 PM
Hey,

I'm a recent convert to Ubuntu and I must admit I'm enjoying the experience of open source software. However, I must admit Microsoft Office is a good piece of kit. Seeing that Microsoft have a Mac version of the office software why does it not attempt to sell it on Linux? I'm sure that large corporations would love this and would possibly migrate en-mass to Linux seeing that they are rather reluctant to upgrade to Vista; hence benefiting both parties. I know this post may sound rather anti open source, especially OpenOffice, but I feel that they lags behind Microsoft Office. I guess the other alternative would be if Apple were to invest their resources into OpenOffice and make it the default Office software for OSX.
Linux is the biggest competitor to Windows. Mac OS X is not; it's just an alternative as far as Microsoft is concerned. Thus, they offer Office on Mac platforms. But it will never be made available on Linux platforms because that's helping the competition.

Rui Pais
March 12th, 2007, 07:29 PM
If you want a better Office suite for Linux then Oo and don't mind to spend some money, SoftMaker Office is an excellent option:
http://www.softmaker.com/english/ofl_en.htm

Rui Pais
March 12th, 2007, 07:30 PM
sorry ... editing was converted on a dup post

Quillz
March 12th, 2007, 07:45 PM
If you want a better Office suite for Linux then Oo and don't mind to spend some money, SoftMaker Office is an excellent option:
http://www.softmaker.com/english/ofl_en.htm
Looks interesting. I might go ahead and give this a try.

Quillz
March 12th, 2007, 08:12 PM
agreed.


imo, linux isn't a competitor to windows.... not even close... i can't see how OSX isn't though... just because you call it an alternative, doesn't make it NOT a competitor...

if indeed linux were the biggest competitor to windows, then we'd be hearing things similar to "civic or corolla?"... but instead we hear <well.. check the newbie forums or other OS forums lol>
But Mac OS X doesn't have a hold on web servers and corporate desktops, whereas Linux does. It's the most widely used OS on web servers, and Red Hat is very popular among corporations. They own market that Microsoft is trying to take with their Windows Server series.

FyreBrand
March 12th, 2007, 08:23 PM
MS-Office is the standard....even if Open Office were 100% compatible (that is all formats work seamlessly), I doubt that Fortune 500 companies would switch: Office is just not all that expensive to a Microsoft partner.

I really hate what Microsoft does on their operating system level (lockdown), but I do not begrudge them my money if they come up with a superior product...given the choice, on Linux, I would pay for MSOffice. Yes, I have codeweavers, but I would rather run software without a "middleman".
Where do you get that Microsoft licensing isn't expensive? It's one of our greatest expenses outside of labor. Also where do you get that a Fortune 500 company wouldn't use OpenOffice? Are you making this up?

Let's just take a single counter example:
Sun Microsystems (SUNW): Forturne500 list -- Number 211. [1 (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/full_list/201_300.html)]

Why does Sun use StarOffice (the commercial equivalent of OpenOffice)? It was cheaper for Sun to purchase StarDivision and develop it's own office suite than pay for Microsoft licensing.[2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Office)] Remember, it's not only the office suite a company must pay for, but the OS license, and possibly Exchange Server licensing. It starts adding up.

The real question is if this thread will take a right turn and merge into the MS Office vs. OpenOffice thread.

References:
[1] CNN.com: Fortune 500 list: page 3 (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/full_list/201_300.html)
[2] Wikipedia: Star Office (with sub-references) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Office)

aysiu
March 12th, 2007, 08:34 PM
The real question is if this thread will take a right turn and merge into the MS Office vs. OpenOffice thread. I'm waiting to see what direction it heads in.

I think most of the energy seems to be going into whether Microsoft should port Office to Linux.

If it keeps going down the "MS Office is better than OpenOffice" route, a merger is definitely in this thread's future. Or I could excise the irrelevant posts.

FyreBrand
March 12th, 2007, 08:37 PM
Sorry I guess I contributed more to the comparative discussion. Apologies.

qamelian
March 12th, 2007, 08:49 PM
MS-Office is the standard....even if Open Office were 100% compatible (that is all formats work seamlessly), I doubt that Fortune 500 companies would switch: Office is just not all that expensive to a Microsoft partner.

Sorry, but this is just wrong. As someone who knows exactly how much my employer spends on Microsoft licenses, even with bulk licensing, Office is still bloody expensive. The only reason we're still using it is because somewhere along the way, decisions were made to by into other MS solutions that unfortunately require the use of MS Office in order to be fully usable. If these decisions had favoured solutions from outside the Microsoft camp, we would have a lot more flexibility and more money in the IT coffers to boot.

LMP900
March 12th, 2007, 08:55 PM
apple is known for expencive software...a free office suite is only a dream for a mac user

iLife, probably one of the best software suites in the market, only costs roughly $80. Mac OS X costs less than a copy of Windows. If you're a student, things are even cheaper. I'd say Apple's prices aren't too bad compared to the competition.

I'll admit that their Pro line of notebooks and desktops, the Mac Mini, and the upcoming iPhone are fairly expensive, but people seem to have no problem shelling out the cash for them.

To stay on topic: If Microsoft were to release a version of Office for us (native; no Wine), I would definitely buy it. As long as it's not a half-assed port, but instead an Office that integrates beautifully into the desktop environment, then I would be more than happy to make the purchase.

garybrlow
March 12th, 2007, 08:57 PM
Open Clipart is available through the repos. For templates and additional stuff like other cliparts not included in OOo there is a third party project that has them. Oxygen Office Professional (formerly known as OpenOoffice.org Professional) for windows is basically an enhanced version of OOo with all inclusions in the form of extensions which is very much free . The extensions are non OS dependent, so they also work on linux etc and they are separated into free and non-free extensions. Please take not that some of the included templates and clipart may violate some licences and is not officially from Sun. You can get/try them out here http://sourceforge.net/projects/ooop/ or directly on this page http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=170021&package_id=208656&release_id=486415. You can install them via the Extension Manager option in the Tools Menu. OOo will set them automatically for you and will be available via the Tools>Gallery Option or New Templates etc.

Microsoft Documents are not the the de facto standard anymore ever since the OASIS awarded the Open Document Format (ODF) based on the original XML format created by OOo as the standard in document formats referred to as ISO/IEC 26300:2006 just last year. This is the standard document formatting supported by OOo and all Open Source document processing and related software (more details available at wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument). Even Microsoft has to conform to this for interoperability with other software applications.

Cheers!!!


GaryBrlow :biggrin:

macogw
March 13th, 2007, 12:04 AM
MS has considered yanking MS Office for Mac because if Mac users can't get MS Office, Macs look a lot less desirable.

aysiu
March 13th, 2007, 12:18 AM
Most of the posts are on-topic. I moved a few to the Open Office vs. MS Office thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=223793). For the others, it's an iffy line to draw, so I left them in.

But I did merge this with an older thread about possible porting of MS Office to Linux.