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Microsoft Renovates Office Suite as a Web Service
foobsr writes "According to an article in EcommerceTimes, Microsoft is trying to migrate Office from a product to an online service with a focus on automating collaborative work. Quote: 'Making collaboration faster, easier and more efficient will be the next revolution in worker productivity, and we want to be in the forefront,' said Peter Rinearson, vice president for new business development in Microsoft's information worker group"."
Okay, honestly, have you even thought through this comment? Why in the world does a WORD PROCESSOR or a SPREADSHEET need internet integration? Do you routinely type out reports by committee? Or do you do the intelligent thing, and delegate out sections?
There are plenty of small businesses that don't need an internet connection, but need a computer with an application to type out letters and balance the books. From a user standpoint, web integration will be useless to the vast majority of us...
BUT, from Microsoft's standpoint, it'll be incredibly useful, because instead of paying once for software you own, web service will let them continually charge you for essentially the same software, over and over ad nauseum. Come to think of it, I wonder why they didn't integrate it years ago?
One more reason for people to switch to OpenOffice. Hopefully more businesses will start to switch, too, as the blackmail, er, SUBSCRIPTION FEES, for keeping their Microsoft software functioning starts to pile up.
Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
" Before I start laughing so hard I fall from my chair, may I remind you that the last time they wanted to integrate online capabilities into their software they gave us IE and Outlook?"
But you do realize that IE totally destroyed its competition and has upwards of 90% of the market share?
Outlook also has gained massive acceptance with many workers using it for their e-mail/contacts/etc. I don't know the market share for Outlook but it's also pretty large.
If these products were bad, no one would have gone from Netscape or Mosaic to Internet Explorer; and no one would use Outlook. There have always been easily available, often lower cost, products from competitors but people don't/didn't use them... could it be that some of these products were actually good?
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places
Let me explain to you why Linux FUD is Different from MS FUD.
People who spread Linux FUD belive in a cause. People who spread MS FUD believe in a corporation.
One set of people thinks that open source will help mankind the other set of people are trying to increase profits of a corporation.
DO you see the difference?
evil is as evil does