Enterprise open source Toolkit

Story: Bursting the proprietary-software bubble

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Number 3 responds!

I don't mind people calling me 3 for short! My point about the interfaces differences was not simply that MS Office was prettier than Open Office...in a roundabout way I was talking about how obvious it is that Microsoft just have so much more in the way of resources etc. to throw at a product in order to then not only make it look appealing but also as good as it can be. When I install OO for non-technical people the first thing they mention is the lack of feel to the interface and they are right...it feels years behind office.

In my opinion the look and feel of products is definately important. To break out into the mass market things need to have simple / effective interfaces and this is what Microsoft products seem to be good at. E.g. Microsoft windows can be installed and used by anyone at any level. Linux on the other hand still seems more geared towards techies etc. that want more technical function etc. but don't mind the interface taking a hit as a result.

Another point would be this. If you compare an office suite, you always compare it to MS Office. Why...because this is the defacto standard when it comes to office suites.

You said that there is no other source for MS Word than via Bill. There is an alternative and thats the open source alternative.

My other advice with regards proprietory software such as office would be to just go for the milestone releases and forget things such as software assurance etc. E.g. instead of upgrading from 2003 to 2007 we have simply downloaded the free compatibility pack for 2007 documents.

I would agree that open source is ready for everyone if you could get a novice to buy a laptop and install a 'free' version of linux (more user friendly versions now seem to charge a fee) on that machine making sure that all hardware devices are also installed with the necessary drivers.

The bottom line for me is that the tipping point for me just hasn't been reached yet but its not far off. I am disappointed with MS's new interface in 2007 which potentially means some re-training anyway and I must admit that outside of the business...my new installs do already get open office rather than MS office.

Open Source software can only get better!

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