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The Fall of Microsoft Office
The Motley Fool ^
| May 27, 2008
| Anders Bylund
Posted on 05/28/2008 5:27:37 AM PDT by Salo
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Interesting article about the potential breaking of the MS Office lock-in.
1
posted on
05/28/2008 5:27:37 AM PDT
by
Salo
To: ShadowAce; N3WBI3; Ernest_at_the_Beach
2
posted on
05/28/2008 5:28:11 AM PDT
by
Salo
To: Salo
I have used Google docs once or twice, mostly in a learning environment. No reason not to use them, i think, but I haven’t really exploited them as much as I would need to for work.
3
posted on
05/28/2008 5:34:59 AM PDT
by
Tanniker Smith
(Teachers open the door. It's up to you to enter.)
To: Tanniker Smith
I really like MS Office products - even office 2k7, but Open Office is an excellent substitute once you turn off java.
4
posted on
05/28/2008 5:37:22 AM PDT
by
Salo
To: Salo
However, the OpenOffice substitute is not really that great--I've tried OpenOffice and its interface feels clunky compared to the interface of Office 2003 and 2007.
To: Salo
That's why Microsoft has been so keen to keep the inner workings of its file formats secret, so that upstarts like Corel (Nasdaq: CREL) WordPerfect or IBM's (NYSE: IBM) Lotus Office would never get the details quite right.,/i. That's why Microsoft has been so keen to keep the inner workings of its file formats secret, so that upstarts like Corel WordPerfect or IBM's (NYSE: IBM) Lotus Office would never get the details quite right.
Upstarts? WordPerfect? Is this guy just out of high school?
6
posted on
05/28/2008 5:53:47 AM PDT
by
TLI
( ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA)
To: RayChuang88
Maybe so, but the functionality of Calc, the OO speadsheet app, really exceeds Excel. Since a majority of what I do is analysis I use OO Calc exclusively.
7
posted on
05/28/2008 5:57:39 AM PDT
by
P8riot
(I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
To: RayChuang88
I've tried OpenOffice and its interface feels clunky compared to the interface of Office 2003 and 2007. Is it $400 worth of clunky?
8
posted on
05/28/2008 5:58:16 AM PDT
by
Hazwaste
(Vote! Vote for the conservative local, state, and national candidates of your choice, but VOTE!)
To: RayChuang88
I agree with your OpenOffice assessment. It is nice because it's free, but I disagree with the author's comments about Microsoft Office. I'm no shill for Microsoft, but I will defend a good product when I think it deserves it, and Office deserves it. Office has tons of on-line support, and its products are well designed and have many useful new features. It's biggest problem is the price tag.
The other aspect of this is the end user's ability to learn a new software set. Half of my users still have trouble identifying the difference between Windows and Office. There is no way they will want to learn a new software set and it would take most of my time explaining/exploring how to do something in OpenOffice that they used to do in Word.
9
posted on
05/28/2008 6:04:16 AM PDT
by
cameraman
To: RayChuang88
The only thing that prevents me from using MSOffice 2000 is a viable alternative for Outlook that synchronizes with my Palm. Evolution in Ubuntu does, but is screws up the synchronization process and I get all kinds of duplicates.
Thunderbird/Lightning is a good application, but doesn’t offer synchronization. If-and-when it does, I’d switch in a heartbeat.
10
posted on
05/28/2008 6:26:52 AM PDT
by
bcsco
(To heck with a third party. We need a second one....)
The only thing that prevents me from using dumping MSOffice 2000...There. Fixed it!
11
posted on
05/28/2008 6:29:08 AM PDT
by
bcsco
(To heck with a third party. We need a second one....)
To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; GodGunsandGuts; CyberCowboy777; Salo; Bobsat; JosephW; ...
12
posted on
05/28/2008 6:31:41 AM PDT
by
ShadowAce
(Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
To: TLI
Upstarts? WordPerfect? Is this guy just out of high school? That made me LOL as well.
I was using WordPerfect in 1987 and WordStar before that. I never used Microsoft Word until I was 'gifted' a copy with my first home PC in 1981.
13
posted on
05/28/2008 6:52:04 AM PDT
by
Ghengis
(Of course freedom is free. If it wasn't, it would be called expensivedom. ~Cindy Sheehan 11/11/06)
To: Salo
Office 2000 marked the highlight of MS Office, IMO. After that, all MS office products became “cartoonish”, slow and bloatware.
The only Office product since that time that is worth it’s salt, and can stand on it’s own merit, is OneNote.
I don’t mind paying for a product that represents a value to me, but I do demand service for it. Going online and spending my time seeking how to do something that was trivial in 2000, is not my idea of service or support.
14
posted on
05/28/2008 6:55:38 AM PDT
by
papasmurf
(Unless I post a link to a resource, what I post is opinion, regardless of how I spin it.)
To: Ghengis
We used Lotus Symphony at work until Windows came along. Then WordPerfect became the accepted editor. Lotus 123 was the spreadsheet application and Paradox was the database application. I remember a lot of bemoaning the absence of an ‘integrated’ suite at the time. These applicatons lost their supremacy because of Microsoft integration.
15
posted on
05/28/2008 7:01:38 AM PDT
by
bcsco
(To heck with a third party. We need a second one....)
To: Salo
so that upstarts like Corel (Nasdaq: CREL) WordPerfect or IBM's (NYSE: IBM) Lotus Office I get what he's saying but that phrasing still strikes me as funny.
16
posted on
05/28/2008 7:12:03 AM PDT
by
Tribune7
(How is inflicting pain and death on an innocent, helpless human being for profit, moral?)
To: Salo
Office isn’t going anywhere, it’s still the #1 selling piece of software for Macs and you’d love to have it on Linux.
To: Golden Eagle
“Office isnt going anywhere, its still the #1 selling piece of software for Macs and youd love to have it on Linux.”
You have nailed it. Business is about money.
The major cost is employee training, not software purchases. As soon as Office will run on Linux, there will be an exodus from Windows based machines.
In my semi-informed opinion, the recent increase in Mac sales is based on the availability of Office on Macs. It’s not the operating system. Most employees know nothing of the operating system. They just turn on the computer and hit the Word or Outlook icon.
Of course, Gates knows this and may not be in a hurry to release a Linux version.
18
posted on
05/28/2008 7:38:59 AM PDT
by
Poser
(Willing to fight for oil)
To: Salo
That's why Microsoft has been so keen to keep the inner workings of its file formats secret, so that upstarts like Corel (Nasdaq: CREL) WordPerfect IIRC, Microsoft learned the closed file format game from WordPerfect when Word was the upstart.
To: Salo
This is outstanding news. I have spent the last two hours cleaning up HTML produced by someone using Word. MS Office is the biggest piece of $hit software ever produced. Ever. If Bill Gates was standing in front of me this morning, I would have put him in the hospital. I f#%&ing hate Microsoft. Nuke Redmond.
20
posted on
05/28/2008 7:45:44 AM PDT
by
jmc813
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