Google formally declares war on Microsoft

[Juridian]

I wouldn't hate them soo much if I didn't had to deal with people wanting to use access to interface with production sql machines, and if word didn't corrupt soo many documents losing hours of work. =p

[xierox]

Does anyone else here use OpenOffice? The current version (1.1.5) is pretty good for what I use it for. (Which is writing papers and stuff for college.) Version 2.0 seems to make some nice GUI changes in both ease of use and looks.

I downloaded StarOffice trial not a week ago to see if it was better than OpenOffice, but it seemed almost identical (probably because OO is based on SO, or vice versa) so I decided to stick with OO.

Can anyone who uses OO more extensively give their opinion on it?

- Xierox

[The Duck]

Originally posted here by neel
I wouldn't call it a war yet... They're just gonne add a few buttons and a toolbar... I don't see any scary bites towards microsoft just yet.

Also corporations pay for support and stuff. Home-users using ms office isn't that big an income for microsoft I believe.

Well, I'm not sure of the difference of profit between the standard and professional version, but I do know all together MS Office makes microsoft some 6 billion annually...

[Negative]

If you need a little more than just something to write some scribbles down, MS Ofiice is the only option. OpenOffice doesn't even come close to what Word or Excel can do (and those who say otherwise have never looked any farther than writing some scribbles down). For a "normal" user, Office (and OpenOffice, for that matter) is overkill: nobody needs all that stuff. For professional users, it's the only option.

Powerpoint is just plain annoying, and Access sucks

[neel]

I personally like word, but it's the only thing I ever used really. I use outlook alot because of the exchange thing (public folder/contacts list etc. or whats that) and I have alot of stuff to do in that. I don't know of another email client wich has that stuff, didn't really look into it either. Powerpoint isn't my favorite thing to work with, but it works and everybody has it and can work with it (if you work in groups). I also use visio occasionally, but I don't know if that's part of office... All other stuff (access, excel, frontpage, etc.), I never really used.

In my case the reason I use ms office is because I have it (legally) and everyone I work with has it and it works. I'm quite proficient using it and I doubt other products like openoffice etc. will seriously speed up my work. Even if openoffice is better I don't think it'll be a huge difference. The pricetag doesn't concern me because I didn't have to pay for ms office. Also I believe, like someone already said, most home-users just download the thing or get a lite version free with their computer.

[The Duck]

Powerpoint has been extremely useful for me while giving presentations and speeches for school. Word and Powerpoint are essential for students IMHO. However if they can come up with open source software that can do the same thing as word and powerpoint, I'll switch...

[Konshuss]

I wouldn't call it a war yet... They're just gonne add a few buttons and a toolbar... I don't see any scary bites towards microsoft just yet.

[]

Its true

From CDW.com:
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional $469.00
Microsoft Office 2003 Standard $369.40
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional version upgrade $319.95

Yes these are both goog points...

But i think it has every oppurtunity of full blown success, i think we are on the dawn of a new era in terms of 'office' computing. Microsoft is slowly but surely being reckognised as a rip-off company with products that to be fair are good quality but are extremely over priced. As soon as people start getting the message, that they dont need to buy an all-in-one PC with print, scanner and a load of useless software (which don't be fooled will happen), other software companies, not necessarily google will be revelling in success. First of all though, the home users and small business need to pick up on it, then and only then will these sofftware apps will be taught in our schools, colleges and universities and ending eventually big business.

Microsoft is on the down, its blaitantly obvious, but the key thing is compatibility, u can take a word.doc to almost any PC and view it, with google is this going to be possible, no you say, but if its free online *downlaod*, hmmm..... with the right promotion......

Another aspect to consider, how cheap are good PC's these days!!! Technology is progressing like nobodies business. In a few years time, how much are you going to be willing to pay for a performance PC? Are you going to want to fork out a few hundred $/£ on a word processor?

I think the only hiccup could lie with the spreadsheet and powerpoint. The spreadsheet for many reasons, but mainly people being trained/fluent with its formulas etc etc And powerpoint, u make a presentation at home (in powerpoint) take it to a confrence, and guess what, they dont have internet connection to downlaod the proggy, but wait there, its FREE to download, i can save it to USB stick and install it on as many machines as i want!!! Result!!!

Every chance of success... Just give it a little more time... Just a little []

Spose its the hackers way, free and open data for everyone, maybe

[t3h]

I use OpenOffice v2: it's a bit unstable (but then again, so is MS Office), but it's heaps faster than v1, and works much better. It's now actually better than MS office.