Comments on: OpenOffice v3.0 sets download record, 80% by Windows users

By: Byron

Byron — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:37:41 +0000

I’ve used OpenOffice for some time now, but I did break down and buy Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 for my wife. For $99 online, I couldn’t pass it up. I will still use OpenOffice as well. I credit OpenOffice and other alternatives for pushing Microsoft into offering their product at this price.

By: CrayXMP

CrayXMP — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:28:56 +0000

Beware, go-oo.org is a fork of OO.o created by Novell to actively push Microsoft’s OOXML support.
This is a hijack of OO.o to slowly include patented proprietary code under GNU/Linux.
It’s the same story all over again coming from MS/Novell, such as Mono, Moonlight.
Remember, Novell needs cash from MS and MS can’t stand free software so the deal is done and Novell acts accordingly as a trojan horse to the community.

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:33:04 +0000

If Microsoft Office was cross platform (truly cross platform), supported open standards and ran from a portable USB disk – I’d buy it. But it doesn’t and OpenOffice does.

Price is the last factor I consider when choosing software. I want ease of use, quick deployment, support for open standards and no licensing hassles. That’s a tick in every box for OpenOffice!

By: Ron

Ron — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:54:36 +0000

> One of the only extensions that cannot be
> saved natively OOXML files.

The version of OO.o 3.0 at http://www.go-oo.org has native OOXML capabilities in both Windows and Linux versions.

By: mike

mike — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:51:42 +0000

With more and more governments in the world adopting
OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office you will see a huge increase. I do think that Microsoft has something to worry about. Office is one of its biggest cash cows. If more people start using OpenOffice instead of their solution they will lose not millions but the billions that Office generates for Microsoft.

By: tdot

tdot — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:32:58 +0000

Yeah. This doesn’t at all prove that anyone is losing or gaining any market share.

Now, show me a comparison of the monthly sales of Microsoft Office versus Open Office downloads with numbers to back up your theories and i’m much more likely to believe you.

Don’t get me wrong, I luvva da free softwarez…

By: someone

someone — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:55:23 +0000

A better suggestion. Take some writing classes.

ex. lose != loose
“One of the only extensions that cannot be saved natively OOXML files.” Where’s the fucking verb?

By: ssam

ssam — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:59:27 +0000

Many linux users get things like openoffice from their distrobution, so they wont count on they download stats.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:58:08 +0000

> And you’re right, for most users, OpenOffice
> is just as good as Microsoft Office.

Actually, I think for most users OpenOffice is probably better than Microsoft Office.

It has fewer bugs, no known exploits, and it’s *free*. There are very, very few features in MS Office that are so compelling that they’re worth spending $499 on (none that I know of, frankly).

Microsoft cannot compete with “free”, and that’s becoming a serious consideration in this economy. And since they don’t offer a Linux version of Office, there’s another whole market that they can’t penetrate at all.

By: Preston

Preston — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:56:44 +0000

How does this show that Office is losing market? You even said the numbers are skewed because Linux users get O.O through their distros.