[adorno]

Reality is that, Windows and MS Office have become standards, and standards often require that others stick with the standards.

Switching just for spite, and because someone just doesn't like Microsoft's lock-in, could be very costly; so costly that, sticking with Microsoft might be the less costly option, and most effective one too.

The only solution to lock-in, is to have a standard what is open to all developers and software makers, and that doesn't require patent fees to use. Until that happens, Microsoft and Windows and Office, will remain what most people consider the "standards".

[usconservative]

The only solution to lock-in, is to have a standard what is open to all developers and software makers, and that doesn't require patent fees to use.

That's what the Open Document Standard is for, which Microsoft now complies with.

Still, that really only applies to fonts and formatting. Microsoft Office's "extras" such as DDE, OLE, VBScript and other features which are commonly used by MS Office users / power users are what keeps people "locked into" Microsoft.

For basic word processing (document creation, editing, exchange) Libre Office or any of the other Open Source office solutions work just fine.

Given I work for a large international bank, getting them to switch to something other than MS Office has to be a VERY compelling financial story (as was the case with our Server environment moving all development to Java/Open Systems which has been hugely successful the past 10 years.)