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10 Sep 2009
IBM has begun a new promotion designed to convert Microsoft Office users to its Lotus Symphony productivity suite.
The company said on Thursday that it will offer the Symphony package along with a collection of plug-ins free of charge.
Microsoft users will be able to obtain the Symphony word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools for Windows, Mac OS and Linux systems. Large enterprises can also purchase licensing agreements at a discount.
IBM's aggressive new initiative comes as Microsoft faces legal challenges over the lynchpin of its Office suite. Canadian software firm i4i had accused Microsoft of violating its patents on XML components within Word, nearly halting sales of Word in the US.
However, IBM maintains that its campaign is more about advocating Symphony's use of open standards than taking advantage of Microsoft's legal troubles.
"Today there are more innovative, open alternatives such as Symphony that compare favourably to Microsoft Office," said IBM Lotus general manager Bob Picciano.
"Symphony's open collaboration model can offer businesses limitless options cost-effectively at a time when many are increasingly concerned about investing in Microsoft Office."
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Do you agree?
Not going to Happen!
IBM's offering is still based on the old OpenOffice source code. This means it is still going to be slow on startup, I am not even to mention how long it is going to take to open a document. Then there is the probem with document compatibility. ODF is not compatible between open source office suites. That goes for the MS Word doc format too(OpenOffice >> MS Office and back). This so called poaching is not going to happen, people believe in MS products because they work and are completely stable. The documents keep their formatting when transported between computers unlike ODF in open source office suites. When it comes to free office suites, you should rather try SSuite Office for a free office suite. They have a whole range of office suites that are free for download. Their software also don't need to run on Java or .NET, like so many open source office suites, so it makes their software very small and efficient. You may try these links: http://www.ssuitesoft.com/index.htm or http://ssuite5element.webs.com/thefifthelement.htm
Posted by: Andy Newmann 15 Sep 2009
Problem With Microsoft Products
If it's built by M$ it has mistakes built in. It is the way they make it so that users will upgrade for the fix they have. So it was broken on purpose otherwise would it be they just didn't test it properly. Maybe it's both.
Posted by: Rex Alfie Lee 12 Sep 2009
CIO's cannot go wrong avoiding Microsoft's lock in.
For documents that is a changing standard. Documents that don't look the same in Office 2007 as they did in Office 2003 should be called broken. That is a Microsoft standard. Don't forget Office 2010, 2013, 2015. PS. Frankly its also broken if you can't open it in Lotus or OpenOffice.
Posted by: carlleigh 11 Sep 2009