Companies cringe at Microsoft licensing

USA Today ^ | 05/13/2002 | Byron Acohido

[B Knotts]

SEATTLE - Fierce resistance is brewing to Microsoft's new software licensing program for businesses.

By Aug. 1, Microsoft will cut the 30% to 50% discount it has long granted businesses for upgrading to the latest version of its software. Instead, it is pushing companies into paying upfront subscription fees locking them into future upgrades.

[B Knotts]

It's only going to get uglier...

[B Knotts]

*********ping*********

[princess leah]

You can thank Janet Reno's justice dept. for the increase!

[B Knotts]

I don't think that has anything to do with this. This is simply the result of a growth-oriented company running out of room to grow. They succeeded in taking over the market; now they need to find ways to squeeze more money out of existing customers.

[CyberCowboy777]

I have supported Microsoft in the past. They are however getting on my nerves. I have many clients that cannot afford to update software every two years. Hell, I have clients that are still running Win 95 for various reasons. It is ridiculous to think that every small business can or would even want to play by these new rules.

Time to look at alternatives.

[NativeNewYorker]

This has literally nothing to do with the Justice Department.

BTW, I urge folks with ordinary word processing needs to use abiword, a totally free, intuitive word processor, and to start using .rtf as the default file format.

Your files will be universally readable, and you won't be out a cent!

[Middle Man]

Having a personal computer that runs Windows is not essential to life on this planet. If you don't like Microsoft's terms, don't buy the product. Vote with your hard-earned money.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Open Office looks pretty good--and its only Rev 1.0.0. As the world moves to XML formats for all documents, MS may find cracks in the Office monopoly. MS uses proprietary formats. Many programs can partially read and interoperate with them. The option of simply changing the formats to make them incompatible with older ones in MS upgrades isn't really viable--the customers and the courts would be all over them.

I used to be a big Gates supporter, but I think he's trying to hard to squeeze his customers, and is on his way to becoming the bad giant everyone loves to hate. Its funny, but Sun's McNealy, who donated the Star Office software that is the basis for Open Office, is probably just as bad. I'm not convinced its good business for Sun, but if it hurts MS, it seems to make McNealy happy. He's got a case of MS envy.

I'm transitioning the home office to Linux; my workplace will take longer, but we are definitely watching Open Office closely.

[ShadowAce]

Managing partner Craig Horrocks says it will take three years and cost $125,000 to convert the 25-employee firm.

I wonder why it will take three years to convert? I can't imagine any reason why it would take this long for a 25-person law firm.

[B Knotts]

Vote with your hard-earned money.

I did long ago. I've been using Linux for years, and before that, OS/2.

And, yes, OpenOffice does a decent job with most MS Office files.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Re: Abiword Yep, its pretty good; fast and small, too. Some problems: Linxu fonts are ugly; it doesn't have some of the features helpful for serious report-writing -- tables of contents, index generation. Open Office, however, does. But it is a huge program.

[B Knotts]

I can't imagine any reason why it would take this long for a 25-person law firm.

Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. I reckon they must have some in-house custom software that must be ported.

[Pearls Before Swine]

"Linxu" is not a Chinese operating system. I meant, of course, "Linux."

[Dialup Llama]

>Having a personal computer that runs Windows is not essential to life on this planet.

That used to be untrue, but today there are many solid alternatives, especially in the world of developer tools.

[Mike Fieschko]

Open Office looks pretty good--and its only Rev 1.0.0.

OpenOffice 1.0 runs on MS-Windows, and there's a developer's build for the Mac.

[ShadowAce]

I reckon they must have some in-house custom software that must be ported.

D'oh!! Of course. When I think of "law firm," I think of word processing and databases, though--not custom software.

[=Intervention=]

ABIWORD BUMP!!! I've used Abiword under Win95 and under Linux and though it has its own little quirks (like spawning a new instance when you want to open stuff) it's open-source, free, and cross-platform!

[=Intervention=]

Cmon bro...Mac has been around for YEARS...Windows has never been a requirement.

[Pearls Before Swine]

OpenOffice 1.0 runs on MS-Windows, and there's a developer's build for the Mac.

I should have mentioned that, although I guess I assumed everyone knew. In fact, I actually think it runs better on Windows, at least Windows 2000.

[marshmallow]

An April survey of 1,400 companies found 36% would not opt for the new program and 38% were looking for alternatives to Microsoft.

A perfectly normal reaction, duplicated numerous times every day, when clients are dissatisfied with services they receive from a business.

I see no problem here whatsoever. If you don't like it, lump it.

Oh, that's right it's Microsoft. There must be something illegal going on.