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IBM Challenges Microsoft with Free Office Suite

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the helping-openoffice-seems-a-bit-insincere dept.

BBCWatcher writes "Reuters is reporting that IBM plans to announce a free, downloadable office suite today in a direct challenge to Microsoft. The news comes only a week after IBM announced they were joining OpenOffice.org and dedicating 35 developers to the project. IBM is resurrecting an old name for this brand new software: Lotus Symphony. The new Symphony, based on Open Office, is yet another product to support Open Document Format (ODF), the ISO standard for universal document interchange. There are about 135 million Lotus Notes users, and they will also receive Symphony free. IBM support will be available for a fee. There are no details yet about platform support, but IBM is supporting Lotus Notes 8 on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows, so at least those three are likely."

7 of 378 comments (clear)

  1. Nobody gets fired for.. by Dareth · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nobody gets fired for buying IBM.
    Nobody gets fired for buying Microsoft.

    Will anybody get fired for buying both?

    --

    I only look human.
    My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
  2. Re:In ten years, MS was an annoying paranthesis by mister_woods · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Soon we will see computing interoperability and software development flourish and we will look back upon the MS dominant time where they were holding free software innovation and interoperability back as an annoying historic paranthesis."

    There might also be a large gap in the historical record due to the myopic reliance on proprietary file formats for record-keeping by public authorities all round the world and the subsequent inability of future generations to read them.

  3. Re:Ms, your case is lost by speaker+of+the+truth · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well the beauty of bitching publicly is that someone gets to show you a solution. Thanks, I'll resume testing OOo now :)

    --
    Using openSUSE instead of Windows since 9th of October, 2007 and liking it.
  4. Whoope! by WhiteWolf666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The install base of the ODF format plus the user interface of Lotus Notes!

    I can smell success!

    (just a joke, I'm actually a fan of both :) )

    --
    WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
  5. Re:Meanwhile by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 2, Funny

    The protest is currently planned for 9/25 at IBM's corporate campus in Second Life.

    That is, quite likely, the stupidest thing I will have read all week.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  6. Whoa! by loki.jf · · Score: 2, Funny

    I just saw a chair fly by!

  7. Re:Ms, your case is lost by MadChicken · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did anyone else notice the lack of a *link* in the actual article?

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    SYS 64738 NO CARRIER