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StarOffice 8 May Be MS Office Killer
UltimaGuy wrote to mention an eWeek article that seemed topical, given the recent discussions about the OpenDocument format. They're running a piece discussing StarOffice 8's killer position as an alternative to Office. From the article: "However, whether StarOffice 8 can succeed as a wholesale or partial replacement for Microsoft Office will depend on the organization thinking about making the switch. Several improvements in StarOffice 8 are aimed directly at improving compatibility with Microsoft Office-formatted documents, but converting complex documents between the two suites' formats will in some cases require tweaking to preserve document appearance. In addition, while StarOffice 8 can be extended through macros and scripting, much like Microsoft Office can, these extensions won't migrate to Microsoft Office without being rewritten. However, StarOffice ships with a Macro Migration wizard that will aid in the migration of Microsoft Visual Basic macros to the StarOffice Basic macro language. There's also a Document Analysis wizard that helps determine where trouble spots might lie in the transition to a StarOffice format."
In the end, it's not going to matter how open ended and interoperable StarOffice or it's file format is, it's going to come down to what's more convenient at the present time. For companies, this means swap everything over to StarOffice, (possibly) retrain their staff, as opposed to waiting out for Office 12, upgrading to it and having everything work the same.
However Microsoft has already alluded that users of Office 12 may need to be retrained anyway, so SO8 and O12 may be on a fair playing field, and actually come down to quality of software, something Microsoft has been paying a lot more attention to recently.
I'll subscribe to Slashdot when I see a month without a dupe, a typo, or an article the "editors" didn't read.
As long as StarOffice/OpenOffice.org startup time is I/O (HDD speed) bound it wont kill anything.
Like those great failures, Yahoo and Google?
Interestingly, the project that you mention is kind of dead at the moment. Novell is paying some guys to convert if for them, though.
Throw the bums out!
Gee, where did anyone say you had to have Open or StarOffice? How about PDF, that is an open format is most likely te primary way files will be made available to the public. Not to mention there is nothing stopping MS from supporting OpenDocument either, which I believe was really the goal of this hard line approach. It is simple economics, if they want Mass. as a customer, they will deliver what the customer wants. It certainly wouldn't be difficult from a technical persepctive since they already support dozens of obscure fileformats already (WordPerfect 5.1 anyone?)
Finkployd
I can't beleive that no one has pointed to it yet: http://download.openoffice.org/2.0.0rc/index.html
This is not my Sig.: Give me $.02 anyway, I want it.
Okay, Mr. Pierce. Here you go:
p ire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Roman_Em
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedon#Decline
All great empires eventually crumble. Look at England, once the center of the civilized world. It just takes time. It's going to happen with Microsoft, just as it will one day happen with the United States.