If you’ve been looking around the net in the last 48 hours, you have begun to see more furor concerning Microsoft Office and other productivity conglomerates than ever before.

While everyone who dislikes the Microsoft hegemony in this area is talking about how the combined efforts will push Microsoft aside, the important things to remember are that Microsoft has quite a head start on the field, and that while the other players are trying to catch up, Microsoft will get back into ’siege mentality’ mode, and make all efforts to ratchet things up another notch.

Many are looking at IBM, that just released ‘beta 1′ of its own productivity suite, which promises to be a major player, simply because of the promised interactivity with Lotus Notes. While many speak of how Smart Suite never took Microsoft down, they fail to realize that while Microsoft has the lion’s share of the offices in the world, Lotus Notes has a huge installed base also. Notes has managed to carve out its own space and not be wiped out by a Microsoft effort. If IBM allows parts of Notes to become part of the Symphony applications, a large, albeit not majority, amount of businesses just might drop Office 2003, and Office 2007, like hot potatoes.

IBM certainly has millions of lines of office productivity code to draw from, they also have some long suffered wounds, going back to the split when OS/2 diverged into Windows NT. A win here, though not with the promise of money, would be a great way to assuage those old wounds. Another item to note - as a company that has probably forgotten more about user experience than others know, it will bring an intelligent, easily understood interface to the applications, down to the smallest detail. Open Office and Sun Office are very easy to use on the surface, but smaller details, and less frequently done tasks are somewhat less than ideally layered in the menu systems, and less than ideally explained in the documentation. IBM has always excelled at documentation - it will likely be no different here.

Also, the implementation of the Microsoft code for accessibility by disabled persons will help the set of programs gain a foothold in public endeavors where handicapped friendliness is mandated. As some might not be aware, IBM was the actual developer of most of this, from back when IBM and Microsoft were friendly.

Much of the polish missing from the other office offerings will certainly be implemented in the Symphony apps, and if IBM really shares most everything, as some have been reporting, this will allow a brighter shine on the Open Office and Sun packages.

If the Symphony applications follow the look of the beta offering, IBM may gain quite a few converts, simply because the look is very similar to Microsoft Office pre-ribbon bar.

Google online applications will be able to benefit also, as anything shared with Sun will be similarly shared with Google - allowing a better experience for those users.

Summing up, everyone wins. IBM offers another choice, Sun, Google, and OpenOffice programs will get better, and Microsoft will be working feverishly to improve Office 2007. No matter what you choose you can rest assured that IBM’s entry into the fray has benefited you, directly or indirectly.

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[tags] Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office 2007, Sun Office, OpenOffice, Google Apps, IBM Symphony, ribbon bar, Lotus Notes [/tags]