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Will free Microsoft Office kill OpenOffice?

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by hason_hu

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Microsoft is going to offer free ad-supported Office 14 next year. Microsoft claims it is for fighting pirate copy. However I read this blog today.

http://bionicoder.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/is-microsoft-late/

The point is Microsoft use free ad-supported product to kill open source software like OpenOffice. Is that possible?

66 replies

by boxfiddler Hot topic

if it's ad supported.

Advertising drives me up a wall. I'll part with money long before I part with sanity.

by seanferd

I'd suppose they would try to use little bandwidth, but I'll bet it will turn into a problem at some point.

by the scummy one

and how much space will it take from the app?

I think it is a pitiful attempt, but still better than what has come out of MS in a while.
No, I dont think it would kill Open Office, however, who knows what Oracle will do to it ?:|

by j-mart

From my experience using MS Office at work, and Open Office at home I find little difference when it comes to getting the job done. At work use MS office for manuals for equipment the company I work for manufactures, sometimes when I need to meet a deadline I will, rather than stay at work, take a manual home and work on it on my Linux machine with Open Office. If anything, I find Open Office better for this type of work.

I'm just an average user of office type software, my main usage being manuals and a collection of spread sheets used to calculate details for design of products I work with and have yet to find any limitations in using Open office over MS Office.

Can anyone give me answers as to in what features MS office has that makes it a more productive choice for a task, justifying the expense of purchasing MS office over the free Open Office.

by deadly ernest

I do a lot of writing of fiction books now and one requirement is to have a print ready PDF file to lodge with the publisher. In OO I've cute little icon on the tool bar where I click on that and it does an automatic Save As PDF - can't do that in a default MS Office, you need to add extras.

I don't know about Office 2007, but in Office XP and Office 2003 I was NOT able to open and read my old Word 2 documents, anything created in a MS product released prior to Office 97 came out jumbled as the new versions of Office couldn't read them. yes I could get, after much searching, patches from MS to download and add to the Office 2003 and Office XP to do this; but the OO did it as a default capability.

MS try not to let you work with non MS products so getting them to work with anything else is a major issue, while OO do it all routinely and with no trouble.

I also have troubles formatting for the books the few times I tried using Office for the stories, it took a lot longer to get the page set ups and mirror imaging etc. set right, about three times as long as it took with OO, and even then the MS Office would sometimes lose the headers and footers settings.

I've not found a USEFUL feature in MS Office that OO doesn't have and do better. Also, the price difference is great.

by j-mart

Many seem to have the opinion as to MS office being the "superior product", but none can list a set of features to back this opinion up. I myself have a preference for Open Office as out of the box reads more file formats and I find it easier to set out pages in a document. But as I am no "expert" this is only my opinion. It would be great if those that are certain Open Office is not quite up to MS office could list a few reasons to go with their argument.

by hypnotoad72

is pretty darn nice.

Still, MS could have cleaned up the underlying code -- they removed some scanner menu functions and yet the "WordBasic" code still exists! When looking up WHY that direct scanning menu option was removed was the first time I heard about the antiquated "WordBasic". And the function is still there; the menu option was just removed. Slop slop, where's the trough folks?

Spaghetti for virtual dinner, anyone? It's a mess.

by donbaker

Currently, MS Office has >90% user base, OpenOffice has <9% user base(mainly used by IT professionals).

Sun's model is freeware(OpenSource) + shareware(StarOffice $34.99) + donate. This model works not very well because number 1 user base is not big enough, number 2 most existing users only uses freeware instead of pay a penny. Unless more than 50% OpenOffice fans donate or pay, otherwise it is hard to grow.

I worked in Sun before. Internally Sun considered ad-supported model two years ago, when Microsoft leaked this idea in 2007. Because of license and other concerns, SUN dropped this idea eventually.

Think about how much money MS earned from office. But SUN did not make enough. It proves freeware + shareware model doesn't work well. Not sure if Oracle will consider to use ad-supported model to fight back. Larry is a smart and strong guy. He may.

by deadly ernest

is it comes pre bundled on their Dell and HP crap systems. Even then a lot are loading OO and ignoring the MS Office package. I'd love to know where those stats on market share come from.

I know a lot of web pages now won't let you access unless your browser says you use MSIE, so many people use a little setting in FF that has it tell the world it's MSIE to view such pages. Thus they mess up the stats badly.

by charliespencer

Most of what I use is proprietary, but that doesn't keep me from avoiding adware. I look for an alternative product; if there's a free one, all the better, but I'll pay for one if that's all that's available.

by jackofalltech

I was not limiting supporters, just making a point.

I, also, will pay for something if a free version is not available and avoid all adware.

by charliespencer

Me, for one. But then, I don't use anyone's messaging software, ad supported or not.

"Ad is just an exchange for free service."

That's like saying, "Money is just an exchange for free service." After all, money is just paper and coins people agree represent a defined value in a monetary exchange. Ads cost me time, screen space, and bandwidth, and I pay money for two of those three.

"Not all freeware are 100% free. It usually has feature limitation and force you to buy shareware for full feature support."

All freeware IS free; you're describing 'trialware' with a limited feature set, not 'freeware'. There's nothing wrong with adware, trialware, shareware, etc.; there's something wrong with them falsely advertising themselves as 'freeware' when they're not.

You're new here with an uncompleted personal profile. You don't by chance develop on-line applications for distribution in exchange for advertising revenue, do you?

by jackofalltech

that uses a toolbar.

You're confused. Freeware is free, period. Anything else is false advertising. Shareware has it's uses, it let's you determine whether something is worth paying money for.

by deadly ernest

before I left Canberra I had about twenty clients who required six monthly system rebuilds because of all the excess ad crap Yahoo loaded onto their system and slowed it down to much. Since they used Yahoo IM, mail, games, etc - the whole Yahoo nine yards, they got loads of the crap and it only took a few months to overload the system.

by jacemg

Word Perfect met the same fate when Microsoft bundled Office with new PCs at no extra charge in the late 90s early 2000s.

by slayer_

Piracy will continue because many of us still hate office 2007 and probably it's predecessors. I know I keep my version of Office 2000 probably till it no longer works. Then I might look into new solutions.

by charliespencer

"Piracy will continue because many of us still hate office 2007..."

Are you saying people pirate old software because they don't like the new stuff? I wasn't aware there was much of a market for older apps; most piracy I read about involves trying to get the latest / greatest.

I assume you own a legal copy of Office 2000. If that's the case, how would dissatisfaction with Office 07 drive you to piracy? You already have what you want, until OS incompatibility kills it.

by slayer_

Last one I bought was 1997, I stumbled on a nice 2000 from Kazaa days, it even validates to MS as valid. I am fine with 2003, but yes, pirating old software, I dare say, is 4 times more common than new software. Especially with games.

by deadly ernest

since you paid for it you can use it. but it's documents won't be readable by later versions of Office soon as they keep changing internal format info to make the older versions useless

by slayer_

Playing the idiot user that will buy into this. I wouldn't be supprised if it turns out to be a combination of adware and shareware. Your allowed to write a document and save it, but not print it!

by leealvin2

@Palmetto

Your point is very common. People like free service or free lunch without paying anything. But software developers need money to support living too.

Can you tell me which freeware you ever made or contributed? I contributed winscp, spring and some java projects. I got experience from those projects. I like that. But I still need money to support myself. To be honest, I plan to make some of my freeware as adware. But they will do properly. I do agree on "Adware should play fair". My adware will do clean and safe advertising.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

get the point. Adware is an annoyance that consumes bandwidth that we'd prefer to put to other use.

by notsochiguy

Yeah, like downloading M$FT patches and service packs!!!

]:)

Years back, the future-ex-girlfriend of the time signed up for something called FreePC. You get shipped some Adware infested PC, agree to view X# of hours per month, and get to keep the PC "free" of charge.

She was surprised that her phone bill (back in the days of 28.8 cruising) was so high due to the PC auto-dialing and connecting to the ad server on a consistent basis.

Free PC...HA!!!

by charliespencer

"People like free service or free lunch without paying anything."

Economics 101. People who eat free lunches don't realize that while they may not be paying cash for it themselves out of their pocket, someone somewhere is paying for it. The 'free' appetizers at Happy Hour are included in the cost of the drinks. The 'free' wireless hot spot at Starbucks is included in the cost of the coffee.

I have no objections to the concept of adware. I just haven't found an adware app yet that I couldn't live without, or couldn't find a replacement I would gladly pay for to escape the ads.

"Can you tell me which freeware you ever made or contributed? ... I got experience from those projects. ... But I still need money to support myself."

I haven't done any programming in 15 years, and then it was COBOL and FORTRAN for in-house apps. The concept of a community developing apps for the common good was still a limited principle when I changed career directions. I agree you need money to support yourself; that's one thing about the FOSS business model I still don't understand. I don't expect you to give your work away, and ethical adware is as good a way as any to profit from your code. But I, for one, won't be running your apps if there are non-adware alternative, including ones that require payment.

by leealvin2

@Palmetto

I appreciate you sharing your point here. I think it is fair. I don't expect everybody loves my adware. I just use the special value to users as an exchange for ads revenue. My app behaves like Yahoo Messenger client, doing clean and safe advertising.

by the scummy one

A$$holes like you that drove up my legal copy of Office 03!!!

either that or MS greed -- I am still debating that with myself. Anyway -- I gotta be pissed off at someone, so you are the target (for now) :^0

by slayer_

I figure MS owes me money for stealing XP from me, I just return the favor tenfold. That visual studio enterprise edition that was I think when I searched it, 6k bucks, partially made up for it :).
I've also distributed my cool version of office to a lot of other people that want or need office 2000 for w/e reason.
If MS would just charge a reasonable price, and hell, actually still sold the older version, we wouldn't have to pirate them. Office 2000 is basically Abandonware at this point/

by scottaaa21

Code a clue, a-hole. Programmers stealing dev tools is the moral equivalent of landscapers stealing lawnmowers.

It is a tool that you use to make a pretty damn good living (I am guessing). And "M$FT" spent a sh1t-ton of money developing it. For some recently graduated punk who didn't even exist when Bill Gates founded MSFT to claim the MS "owes" you something is the height of arrogance and stupidity.

You have already admitted that you stole and distributed Office 2000. You were probably 10-12 years old when Office 97 came out (judging by your profile. Sorry if my math was wrong), so I am guessing that you never paid for it either.

If you are so morally opposed to the concept of people getting paid for their software, then I suggest you quit your job and volunteer full-time developing free Linux apps.

Short of that, you have no moral high ground to stand on, which makes you little more than a hypocrit and a common theif.

by slayer_

I do spend lots of my free time making free programs for people.

And I do pay for everything I can pay for, but as it is impossible to buy Office 2000, theft was the only option.

I always pay for my music and movies, I always pay for my games and software.

Infact, the sum total of things I haven't paid for are:
Office 2000
Visual Studio
Fireworks MX (not my fault entirely, their coding sucks, didn't even ask me to pay for it after I installed it).
Metal Fatigue (game, I searched for years but could never find it in a store)
Darkstone (game, same problem as above)

If more people were like me the software industry would be thriving and we'd have far higher quality products!

by ggreenwood4

This is typical business practice for Microsoft, trying to kill of all competition!They have done it before and will continue to do it, it's the MS Business Template. It it worked before it will work again. Now if they would concentrate on the business of making a stable OS that doesn't commit suicide after a couple of months.

by ggreenwood4

This is typical business practice for Microsoft, trying to kill off all competition!They have done it before and will continue to do it, it's the MS Business Template. It it worked before it will work again. Now if they would concentrate on the business of making a stable OS that doesn't commit suicide after a couple of months.

by ggreenwood4

This is typical business practice for Microsoft, trying to kill off all competition!They have done it before and will continue to do it, it's the MS Business Template. It worked before it will work again. Now if they would ONLY concentrate on the business of making a stable OS that doesn't commit suicide after a couple of months.

by deadly ernest

Have Open Office take up a big ad on the new MS product saying they can get Open Office for the same functions without the ads.

The above is submitted by your local evil genius

by hypnotoad72

* Sharepoint Designer (aka "Expression Web")
* truespace (3D rendering/animation)
* .net Micro (mobile PC development)
* Visual Studio (windows development)

And undoubtedly more.

The number of competitors making QUALITY software might be hurt by this series of justice department-worthy moves by Microsoft.

Especially with Expression Media needing a year to fix a bug that didn't display code properly for non-MS browsers, because IE has a bug that hides illegal characters...

There is a BIG case here. Shouldn't be hard to win.

Does their making free of software lower wages as well? (I mean, Bill and Steve have their billions, what should they care - it's not like they've had ethics in the past you know!)

Microsoft is on record saying they're rather have China pirate their software, because that way it's still MS software. It's about control. Never mind faulty activation mechanisms, bloatware, and other things, I am now really concerned. Or maybe Microsoft is concerned because, like swine flu, people are tired of their porky products sold by, forgive me, pigs. We all know their history and legal tussles, which got resolved so far after the transgressions they got away with a LOT.

by the scummy one

Outlook
I was originally going to get Outlook alone, however, for $10 difference I got Word and Excel as well as Powerpoint

by seanferd

"Refreshingly repugnant" and "Nausealicious" are mmm mmm gross. Fantastic!

Also good for the corps: While MS makes consumers go through ridiculous contortions in their quest to limit infringement, they also depend on piracy to increase their marketshare. Today's pirates are tomorrow's customers, and they d@mn well know it, regardless as to what they tell the public.

by seanferd

End the horror!

re: the Indianapolis 500; that must have been one helluva big courtroom. Trumped-up charges, I understand. Weren't even in town that night.

by deadly ernest

When was the last time I used Outlook? Hmm, oh, never. The only times I worked in an organisation that wanted a server based application like Outlook they had Lotus Notes. On a personal home issue, I've never used Outlook or the like. the closest I get is Thunderbird and Agent.

This lack doesn't worry me, and I doubt it worries too many others.

by deadly ernest

I still have a whole swag of old MS software, and even still use some, but not on the net. DOS 6, Win 3.11, Word for Windows 2a, Word 6 Excel 4, Excel 5, MSIE 4, Access, Access 2, Powerpoint, Win 95, Win 98, Win 98SE, Win 2000 Pro, Win XP Pro, Win 2000 Server, being the first ones that come to mind. All legal copies I still have.

by the scummy one

I use Outlook, and like it better than Thunderbird. Of course, last time I tried Thunderbird was some years ago -- about the time I decided I wanted Outlook instead

So, while it may not bother many people, it did bug me enough to go get what I preferred.

When on Linux, I gotta use OWA (browser) for my mail :( , cause last time I tried, Thunderbird didnt play with exchange :(

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