Will Oracle Save OpenOffice From Extinction?
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Microsoft has dominated the software market not only with Windows but also their Office Suite of software products. Over the years the only real competition has been OpenOffice which Sun had been providing to the masses. But now that Oracle has devoured Sun, the question now is what will become of OpenOffice?
OpenOffice has provided a free alternative to consumers whether they are using Windows or Linux. For some consumers the cost of Microsoft’s Office is cost prohibitive. Even for schools that are reeling from the effects of slashed budgets due to the current economic climate, OpenOffice can provide the students with an effective alternative.
If you haven;t used OpenOffice before, you must consider the fact that it does not have all of the bells and whistles associated with its paid counterpart. But for day to day usage that most consumers need, it is satisfactory in its performance. OpenOffice provides a word processing unit, as well as presentation, database, spreadsheet and drawing modules. Basically it is a complete suite of products rolled into one.
In the past I have recommended OpenOffice to home users, church groups, non-profits and others as a free option to the more costly Microsoft Office.
But not that Oracle has bought out Sun the OpenOffice project could face elimination. I would hope that Oracle will keep the project going. There is a definite need for a free suite of products that OpenOffice provides.
Comments welcome.
OpenOffice downloa can be found here.
4 Comments
Topics about Microsoft » Will Oracle Save OpenOffice From Extinction?
April 25th, 2009
at 5:20am
[...] GeoTech Informatics put an intriguing blog post on Will Oracle Save OpenOffice From Extinction?Here’s a quick excerptMicrosoft has dominated the software market not only with Windows but also their Office Suite of software products. [...]
fred
April 26th, 2009
at 10:11am
well… yes, Oracle-Sun combination is perfect : for java (the core of all the oracle-application), solaris (for the server)…. i like both companies a lot, and i was very happy to see them merged together. Actually, i was telling to my colleagues, during the ibm-deal : oracle shall buy sun.
but, now what will happen with Open Office ? What is Open Office ? this is for Sun a big strong bullet in the direction of Microsoft : don’t let Microsoft alone on the market of the Office. On another market, we all know the wish of Microsoft to take the place of google. Sun saw (probably too late…) that they lost the enterprise desktop-market because … of MS-Office. Yah, a lot of companies preferred Windows because and only because of the Office-Monopoly. Remember, that before G. W. Bush, the idea was to split Microsoft : one for Office, one for Windows.
In the oracle-constellation, open-office has no special place now.
but in the computer-constellation, open-office is the most important tool, in order to avoid the office-monopoly and then as consequence the operating-system monopoly.
Concerning Sun : what about solaris as desktop ? not good as windows or apple, but still existing. oracle should try to force it again… and especially : the company sun-oracle shall control the desktop : i mean : please, no more CDE, no KDE : force your desktop : JDS ! Microsoft and Apple don’t let anybody using their operating-system for another desktop… This was ever the big power of Microsoft and Apple : they control their own desktop. At each new-windows-release, all users get first the microsoft-application, then they re-install perhaps some previous software. No come-back anymore in the desktop-market, without Openoffice.
OpenOffice is now available for Apple, Linux and Windows.
Also on the mobile phones : don’t let Microsoft take the control of the Office market : u will regret it (as mobile-phone constructor).
digitivity.org
May 8th, 2009
at 6:09am
I think there is no reason to believe that Oracle would discontinue OpenOffice. I think you have to look at why Sun was, in effect, subsidizing a free product. That was just because, to the extent that there are alternatives to Microsoft being use, Sun has the ability to get a toehold as far as sales.
That’s only much more the case with Oracle. Oracle doesn’t benefit from a totally Microsoft-centric corporate IT environment in which MS Office integrates tightly with MS Sql Server and Access data sources. In fact Oracle has a great incentive to build in great Oracle and Mysql connectivity into OpenOffice.
Ryan Farmer
May 8th, 2009
at 10:44am
I usually convert OOXML people send to me to ODT out of spite and send it back to them with no explanation.