Posted on 05/09/2010 12:32:36 PM PDT by max americana
In the beginning, there was word processing. Then, simply, Word. Spreadsheets became Excel. Presentation software, if it was ever known by such a name, was simply PowerPoint. Long before Google's preeminence in search, Microsoft dominated business and personal software with a suite known as Office.
The company launches its latest version, Office 2010, on Wednesday in New York — and the stakes couldn't be higher. The lucrative franchise is threatened by a changing market spouting a four-letter word: free. The biggest threat comes from Google, specifically Google Docs, Web applications accessible from any computer. Because of Google, Microsoft has been forced to make a free ad-supported version called Office Web Apps. Google's software is unlikely to depose Office, especially among heavy business users who write reports, draw up corporate budgets and put together sales presentations. But Office 2010 does represent a slow tipping of the entire technology industry, from a PC world Microsoft long has dominated to a cloud-computing world, where software roams free on the computer, phone, tablet and television, and the old ways of making money are changing.
"We think it's actually an opportunity for us," said Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft Business Division, which makes Office. "We have an opportunity to draw in many, many people who today are not engaged in the Office experience, or have not paid for software along the way, or are on very old software."
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
My office has gone Google literally. As for open office I find that to be a memory hog.. I think it will go away..
An ad based word processor? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO! Yeah, I can't wait to download that.
I’m using OpenOffice. It’s a little slow (I think it’s written in Java) but meets my needs and I don’t have to be online to use it.
Anything you put on googledocs will be shared. Hopefully you don’t work in the medical or legal profession.
No.. I rather not say what company, but it is not for a medical or legal profession..
they know that the Office cash cow is ultimately going to be the victim of cloud computing on iPad and netbook type devices, so this is just trying to control the rate of descent.
Just wait til’ you finished your accts receivables for the day and a pop up ad for Tron 2010 shows up.
Google Docs is okay, but their spreadsheets lack functionality for things such as text-to-columns.
Microsoft is starting to run into problems. For years they had the desktop and used negative engineering to kill competing software and make their packages dominant.
They’ve had a tough, tough time in areas where they can’t use their monopoly status to leverage the marketplace.
Same thing here, our office manager began to implement Google Docs but I was more concerned about the privacy issue with Google.
Have to agree with Open Office, it’s sloooowww but if it meets the needs of others who like open source, more power to them.
That is my big complaint, plus no database.. But it does the work..
I still use M-soft Office quite a bit, but I like Google Docs, and use it more and more. And it is convenient having my data on the cloud, accessible anywhere from any device.
Begone, Evil Billy!
Indeed.. We use Google Mail.. 10 times better then exchange..
Cloud computing is the future..
Some things are going to be very interesting in the future.
Some things, like politics and civil wars and depression are going to be a bit too interesting.
/johnny
I use google docs some, and Corel’s Word Perfect myself. I’ve used open office but I like both Google Docs and Corel’s program better...
Maybe in cities. The internet and its infrastructure currently lacks the required level of reliability in non-urban areas for CC to be truly viable.
Didn’t want you to name the company. Just realize google has no respect for privacy.
We are aware and the people who approved the change made sure it was....
True, but since I work for a global company it helps to talk to work with my fellow people overseas..
You must be the only Freeper I know of who uses WordPerfect..no offense.
MS hasn't done any Office innovation since Office 2000. They just gussy it with cosmetic changes every few years and re-release it.
I still use WordPefect. WordPerfect talks up to you. MS WORD talks down.
And I like the fact that it reveals the codes which you can edit.
Sounds good. What if the other business that you send a Wordperfect doc to uses MS Word?
I want my office 2003 back. And NO, I do not want a web-based program of any sort. I like to maintain a self-contained computer.
OO takes far longer to start, but once it's running it's reasonably fast. I haven't compared Linux+OO and Windows+MS Office, but the differences would be irrelevant in practice.
What is very relevant is bugs. OO has too many of them, everywhere. I made a document in OO about 6 months ago, but I couldn't maintain it because it was falling apart at every seam - flow / pagination issues, image anchoring issues, TOC issues... finally I gave up and converted the thing to the .doc format, for MS Office 2003 that I still have.
Startup for either windoze/MS office or linux/oo is about the same for me. No real time delta.
I'm running simple HP or Compaq dual core laptops with 1G on both Wista and Suse. Cheap, common, not bleeding edge hardware. Well established with good drivers (NVIDIA on both).
/johnny
Personally I use MS works, which is cheaper and totally compatible if you wish to view Word or Excel docs. It isn’t as loaded with features but it usually comes free when you buy a new Windows machine and it is fine for home use. I find it more than adequate.
Open Office is the threat.
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