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A downloading guide for freeloaders
watoday ^ | Sean Dodson

Posted on 04/20/2009 9:13:09 PM PDT by JoeProBono

Open source can help the bottom line, writes Sean Dodson.

Richard Stallman once wrote that the point about free software is it is "free as in freedom, not free as in beer", meaning people should be at liberty to do as they pleased with software, rather than subscribe to its restrictive licences.

As the economic crisis takes hold, the stress may be on the second half of his aphorism. To the millions downloading free software in an economic crisis, the point is that it is free, as in free beer.

Since Stallman first made his rallying cry as the founder of the free software movement in the 1980s, the way that software has been developed and distributed has been transformed. There cannot be a corner of the industrialised world that does not rely on some form of free software.

But such software, and the open source movement it inspired, has so far affected mostly the back-end world of servers and databases, or taken over from software, such as the web browser, that was already available at no cost.

Remaining largely untouched are the paid-for applications we run on our computers - the operating systems and desktop applications licensed from giants such as Microsoft, Adobe and Apple. But with money becoming increasingly scarce, and the free alternatives growing in sophistication, free is finally threatening to go mainstream.

Take OpenOffice, the leading alternative to a paid-for software application. As the downturn started, its download figures began to rocket. According to Oregon State University, since it launched its third version in mid-October, OpenOffice has been downloaded more than 42 million times. That's roughly four times every second, 13,500 times every hour or 324,000 every day, that someone, somewhere in the world has chosen to download free software, rather than pay for a software application.

"We chose it because of cost," says Chris Waite, the IT director of Travel Republic, a large online travel agent based in England. Listed as the fastest-growing private company in 2007, Travel Republic installed OpenOffice through necessity. It now runs it on all 120 desktops.

"The cost of the Microsoft Office suite is prohibitive, so we chose OpenOffice and it does everything we need," Mr Waite says. "It's saved us about 18,000 ($A38,000). I just wish we'd deployed more open source software from the outset."

Think of any paid-for application and there is now a serious free or open source alternative, each growing in sophistication and putting pressure on the proprietary market leader. Everything from image processing (Gimp), vector graphics (Inkscape) and audio recording (Audacity) to email clients (Thunderbird) - the list goes on. Although none of these applications is yet a market leader, free software has already had one effect on paid-for applications. "The overall price of software has been downwards for several years," says Bianca Granetto, a software analyst for Gartner......


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: opensource
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To: microgood

“If you employ a power user you are paying a six figure salary, the cost of MS Office becomes inconsequential compared to its value.”

It again depends on the usage..

I know folks who make a six figure salary that could not tell open office from MS Office..

Your example is aimed at providing two extremes to make Open Office look like a tinker toy. In reality 95+% of MS Office functionality exist in Open Office. For everyone ubt extreme MS-Office power users Open Office is just fine

BTW Open Office is not always playing catchup with MS Office: Which product first allowed you to export natively to PDF? Open Office..


21 posted on 04/21/2009 10:44:56 AM PDT by N3WBI3 (Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari)
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To: guitarplayer1953

Yea an MS is like an expensive hooker which can give you the clap... Point?


22 posted on 04/21/2009 10:45:38 AM PDT by N3WBI3 (Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari)
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To: N3WBI3

I did not make that connection between ms and clap you need read up the thread and ask them why they made that statement.


23 posted on 04/21/2009 10:53:45 AM PDT by guitarplayer1953 (Psalm 83:1-8 is on the horizon.)
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To: N3WBI3

I’m in that 95% that doesn’t need the extras that must exist somewhere in MS Office. Open Office has everything I’ve ever needed.

Lately I’ve been using the Go-oo version of Open Office. It’s optimized to open much faster than the regular version of Open Office. It’s version 2.4 something, not the latest 3.xx Open Office.


24 posted on 04/21/2009 1:57:37 PM PDT by Big Giant Head (I should change my tagline to "Big Giant penguin on my Head")
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To: N3WBI3
Your example is aimed at providing two extremes to make Open Office look like a tinker toy. In reality 95+% of MS Office functionality exist in Open Office. For everyone but extreme MS-Office power users Open Office is just fine.

I have not seen Open Office for a while, but I was mainly alluding to power users that would request MS Office and if they did the cost is a drop in the bucket compared to the productivity loss in having to learn a new system. One of the things about MS Office is that it got a good start on Open Office and people tend to stick with things they know.

In addition, most people are not caught up in the Microsoft is the evil empire stuff that the Unix/Java/Linux crowd is caught up in and that Open Office was created for. But I must say that if this was all written in Java and is reasonably stable, that says a lot about the effort that went into it.
25 posted on 04/21/2009 2:18:25 PM PDT by microgood
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To: microgood
I have not seen Open Office for a while,...

Then try it again, please. You may like it--you may not. But at least you will be talking from experience, and not from obsolete knowledge. It's like a *nix geek saying windows sucks because Win95 was just a GUI on top of another OS.

26 posted on 04/21/2009 2:21:38 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce
It's like a *nix geek saying windows sucks because Win95 was just a GUI on top of another OS.

I never said Open Office sucks. What I did say was most power users I know prefer MS Office. It does not surprise me, however, that MS Office would have more features since they spend a ton of money on it and Open Office is all open source support. From the reviews I have read, it is mainly trying to keep up with MS and its whole goal is to undermine MS Office.

I do occasionally look at the latest comparisons between the two but have been using MS Office since I moved to Excel from Lotus and Word from WordPerfect.

The bottom line is however, is that if you are paying someone 6 figures and he/she wants MS Office, you would be nuts not to give it to him/her.
27 posted on 04/21/2009 2:33:56 PM PDT by microgood
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To: microgood
I never said Open Office sucks.

I know you didn't. I apologize for not being more clear--or for choosing an imperfect analogy. I was just trying to illustrate how useless out-of-date knowledge is.

The bottom line is however, is that if you are paying someone 6 figures and he/she wants MS Office, you would be nuts not to give it to him/her.

It would depend on what they want to do with it. WP and spreadsheets don't require a $500 piece of software. If s/he is worth six figures, then they are capable enough to learn a slightly different interface from MS 2007 in order to write a memo or produce a presentation.

28 posted on 04/21/2009 2:38:46 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce
It would depend on what they want to do with it. WP and spreadsheets don't require a $500 piece of software. If s/he is worth six figures, then they are capable enough to learn a slightly different interface from MS 2007 in order to write a memo or produce a presentation.

I am sure there are many cases where you are correct, but alot of the power users I have dealt with have many queries saved in Access for hitting databases, lots of Excel and Word macros that they port to each new version, and they create complex pivot tables that they then import into Access and use to update database servers. Many actively write VBA Script in Excel or Access to support other employees that are not as savvy.

So when faced with those situations, it is easier to just say: here is your MS Office.
29 posted on 04/21/2009 2:51:08 PM PDT by microgood
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To: microgood
So when faced with those situations, it is easier to just say: here is your MS Office.

Agreed. That would be a lot cheaper than paying for his time to re-write everything.

30 posted on 04/21/2009 2:57:11 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: microgood

“One of the things about MS Office is that it got a good start on Open Office and people tend to stick with things they know.”

Fair enough, training and comfort cost must be considered when platforming an individual. But the example that you have to be some kid in a village without power in India to get a great experience out of OO is specious at best. Most college students could do just fine with OO. Most people who (1) Have a job which has not revolved around an office sweet, (2) Use of an office sweet is basic, Are part of a much larger group being moved in on OSS direction for cost savings will be just as well off in 1-3 months with either sweet.

Its all going to be situational, new company with no current software load (or growing company) versus an established company with a long term site license.

“In addition, most people are not caught up in the Microsoft is the evil empire stuff that the Unix/Java/Linux crowd is caught up in and that Open Office was created for.”

That’s not what openoffice was created for. It was created to be free not to be ‘ATBM’ Keep in mind at the time when work on Openoffice began there were already well known alternatives to MS such as corel. OO was started by the makers of Star Office in order to have the OSS community help them with the development of their product.

“But I must say that if this was all written in Java and is reasonably stable, that says a lot about the effort that went into it.”

I don’t think it was written in Java until after Sun got into the mix in 2000. But it is pretty stable, and portable.


31 posted on 04/21/2009 4:41:24 PM PDT by N3WBI3 (Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari)
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To: microgood

Certainly, if you find that productivity gains are greater than the ongoing licensing fees and licensing compliance costs (often overlooked, but significant if done right), then it may make sense to pay for the proprietary option.

For the majority of office software users, I seriously doubt that they are going to realize a significant productivity advantage from Microsoft Office vs. OpenOffice.org.

There is the retraining cost, but Microsoft, in their wisdom, made Office 2007 significantly different from previous versions of Office, so the Microsoft retraining cost advantage largely disappears.


32 posted on 04/21/2009 4:50:33 PM PDT by B Knotts (Worst economy since the Third Punic War)
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To: B Knotts
For the majority of office software users, I seriously doubt that they are going to realize a significant productivity advantage from Microsoft Office vs. OpenOffice.org.

I agree that most people use about 5% of Word or Excel capabilities, but what is strange is that the users seem to want the software anyway. For example, Works is kind of a featured down version of Office, but nobody wants it. They want Office, just in case, I guess.

There is the retraining cost, but Microsoft, in their wisdom, made Office 2007 significantly different from previous versions of Office, so the Microsoft retraining cost advantage largely disappears.

I know what you mean. I was cursing those ribbons for some time.
33 posted on 04/21/2009 4:55:28 PM PDT by microgood
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To: N3WBI3
But the example that you have to be some kid in a village without power in India to get a great experience out of OO is specious at best.

You are right, that wasn't the best example. A better example would be a regular family that needs a word processor and spreadsheet, but does not use all the functionality available.

That’s not what openoffice was created for. It was created to be free not to be ‘ATBM’ Keep in mind at the time when work on Openoffice began there were already well known alternatives to MS such as corel. OO was started by the makers of Star Office in order to have the OSS community help them with the development of their product.

Oops. Burned by wikipedia again.
34 posted on 04/21/2009 5:00:51 PM PDT by microgood
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To: ShadowAce

I wondered if there was a way to use the ASCII codes, but couldn’t find it in the “docs”.


35 posted on 04/21/2009 5:26:34 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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