The Australian released an excellent opinion article, covering the latest version of OpenOffice, 3.0, launched under a month ago around the world. The 3.0 release also introduced Mac support to the open source software.
Here at Doubleclick we’ve been using OpenOffice 3.0 for some weeks and we must say it’s getting harder and harder to see why average users would want to shell out several hundred dollars for MS Office.
Microsoft has been working hard over the past year or so (around the time Ray Ozzie sat in the captain’s chair) to release a lighter, web-based version of Microsoft Office. The license issue hasn’t been officially announced, yet. With OpenOffice 3.0‘s staggering 12 million downloads – which means Microsoft is down $2.5 billion on ‘lost’ Office suites so far – you can understand why Microsoft is working hard and fast.
The next release of Lotus Symphony will be based on OO 3.0, which will improve Sympohny’s ratings considerably.
Links:
The Australian – OpenOffice shakes Microsoft
OpenOffice.org
ComputerWorld – Office web will be available from Mac, Linux, iPhone
IBM commits to the future of ODF and presents Lotus Symphony roadmap
Ed Brill visits Australia and New Zealand
