It is simply changing the rules to the game. Despite arguments from analysts, Office users, and, yes, yours truly that there simply isn't much more you can do to improve such well-worn application types as word processors and spreadsheets, Microsoft has come up with an excellent answer to the critics. The answer, as it turns out, is surprisingly simple. But is a viable alternative for cost-conscious individuals and organizations. Sure, it's a bit more primitive than the latest version of Microsoft Office, Office 2003. (Too, that argument was flawed to begin with, since each Office user utilizes a different 10 percent of Office than everyone else.) looks like Microsoft Office, acts like Microsoft Office, and is compatible with Microsoft Office. How could Microsoft possibly compete with that?įlash forward a decade, and Microsoft is finally facing that situation: The office productivity suite, a free and open source alternative to Microsoft's dominant Office suite, offers far more than 10 percent of Office's functionality. After all, I figured, it was only a matter of time before someone cloned the 10 percent of Microsoft Office that people actually use and offer it for free, perhaps on top of the free Linux operating system. Way back in 1994 or so, while downloading floppy disk images for an early version of the Slackware Linux distribution at Scottsdale Community College near Phoenix, Arizona, I asked a friend-now a Microsoft employee, incidentally-how the software giant could possibly respond to the open source phenomena.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |