The Assault on Microsoft Office
I finally got around to downloading Lotus Symphony for the Mac. Lotus made it available a while ago, so I decided to check it out. Symphony is now based on Open Office rather than the old code base, and, perhaps as a consequence, there are plug-ins you can download along with the software.
I downloaded the software out of curiosity. I have no intention of using it. You can no longer separate me from Apple’s Pages – the best word processor I’ve ever used, although I’m not enamored of Apple’s spreadsheet, Numbers. The point is that I just wanted to take a look.
According to IBM over 3 million copies of Symphony have been downloaded with the numbers rising every month. This doesn’t necessarily translate into millions of Symphony users, but it does indicate genuine user interest. Downloading free software from IBM is, imho, different than downloading from some Open Source provider simply because of customer confidence. So there’s a possibility that Symphony may achieve what OpenOffice couldn’t achieve (even if it has the same code base) and knock Microsoft off balance, or even off its feet.
Symphony is MS Office compatible, up to and including file formats for Office 2007. All of which is good for the user, but there’s another twist to Symphony. It offers additional functionality through plugins, imitating the software models of FireFox,WordPress et al. The Microsoft office apps were overburdened with functionality quite a while ago and it has become truly ridiculous, but it’s not all Microsoft’s fault. The fact is that one man’s word processor is another man’s legal document creator and yet another man’s desktop publishing software.
Plugins, not functionality overload, are the natural answer to this thorny little problem of context – a solution that Sun is also adopting with Open Office. Until recently Open Office had been a clone of MS Office, but it is now possible that it will evolve into a superior product. Given that it’s free, Microsoft ought to be worried – especially as we’re marching into a recession where budgets are getting shredded and many organizations are going to be attracted to inexpensive technology alternatives.
Robin,
You downloaded out of curiousity, as did (and I am making an educated guess here) 70% of the people who download free software.
As for the complexity of productivity apps and the many different usage scenarios, Microsoft did implement the ribbon. A UI improvement if you ask me as it is context driven.
Another good example of Microsoft Office as a *platform* is the recent release of the Slideshare Add-in : http://blog.slideshare.net/2008/12/15/slideshare-makes-powerpoint-social/
I do not agree with your conclusion with regards to a state of recession and the fact that organisation may turn to free or inexpensive software. This would imply that “free” software does not come with migration / (user)adaptation costs when implemented and has a lower TCO going forward.
The big question is have you switched ?
Sorry,
Noticed too late that you already indicated that you have no intention of switching
I know of some companies that are already trialing Office alternatives as well as a few small ones who are doing a great deal on Google. Yes there’s migration to consider, but that only seems to be a real difficulty where there’s extensive use of Excel.
Also it’s amazing how fast a migration can occur if someone just imposes it.
Given your post on Symphony and a previous post on Notes/Domino, please be aware that these Symphony editors are also included in the Notes client offering as a standard feature. I use all the editors and frequently view/edit Microsoft Office formatted files from within Symphony. In particular, I find the built-in export from Symphony’s ODF-based presentation editor to Adobe’s Acrobat pdf format very convenient.