Re: [LINK] [NZ] AA dumps Open Office, buys Microsoft for ‘compatibility’

[Kim Holburn]

On 2007/Jul/18, at 3:44 AM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> AA dumps Open Office, buys Microsoft for ‘compatibility’
> Microsoft Office is not cheaper, but it is almost impossible to  
> work out the actual cost of open-source, says CIO
> By Randal Jackson
> Computerworld
> Auckland
> Monday, 16 July, 2007
> http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/tech/ 
> A6AB17B34B1BA81ECC2573160079BFBC
>
> AA dumps Open Office, buys Microsoft for ‘compatibility’
>
> Issues around compatibility as well as the question of future  
> technology direction have led the Automobile Association to dump  
> Open Office in favour of Microsoft Office.
>
> Until now, the majority of AA staff have used Open Office, with a  
> small number also using the Microsoft product.
>
> “[But] there are issues which come with some open-source products,”  
> says the AA’s CIO, Doug Wilson.
>
> “The first, with Open Office, is compatibility — sharing  
> information with Microsoft products, both within the organisation  
> and with external parties. A dual world is complicated and, whether  
> people like it or not, Microsoft is a standard.

Hmmm.... Actually it's not a standard and currently Oo can read and  
write MSOff documents.

> “Second, you have no idea where open-source products are going,  
> whereas vendors like Microsoft provide a roadmap for the future.

Well OO is going towards ODF which is a standard in the very real  
sense of the word.  Other programs can read and write ODF for free.   
That sounds like a road map to me.
Microsoft's roadmap to the future?
1) Add lots of new features that make MSOff incompatible with  
previous versions and any other programs that can currently read and  
write it's documents.
2) Make sure the default way of saving documents is the new  
incompatible format.
3) Profit

> “It’s about futures, planning and integration.”

True it is.

> Wilson says Microsoft Office is not any cheaper,

Not true.

> but that it was almost impossible to work out what open-source was  
> actually costing because of issues such as incompatibility and  
> training.

Well wouldn't that be his job?  To work out costing?  It's not that  
hard.  You certainly can work out what the licensing costs of MS  
Office are.  The costs of incompatibility and training are the same  
for MSOff upgrades as for Oo.

> The AA’s agreement with Microsoft, for around 500 seats, includes  
> home-usage rights, so staff can use the software at home. “That’s  
> important,” says Wilson. The AA has 1,000 staff.

Actually they can't, it means they can only use MSOff at home if they  
get a MS Windows based machine at home.  They can use OO at home with  
no problems at all.

> Microsoft Office will be rolled out over the next few months.
>
> The AA is also considering using Microsoft Sharepoint Server to  
> maintain some of its websites. This would allow Office Pro users to  
> maintain the sites directly from within Office and Word.

Heh, heh.

> “A decision has still to be made on that,” says Wilson.
>
> Open Office was originally developed as a proprietary product,  
> called Star Office, until it was purchased by Sun Microsystems in  
> 1999, and thereafter it was made free of charge. Then, in 2000, Sun  
> made the source code open and available for download, and community  
> developers built around the software, at OpenOffice.org.
>
> Sun still sells a commercial version of the software, called  
> StarOffice, and Novell has an edition, too.
>
> Market share figures <http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/ 
> Market_Share_Analysis> for the combined versions of Open Office,  
> from the project’s website, vary according to region and market  
> segment. In 2003, Jupiter Research put market share in small- and  
> medium-sized North American businesses at 6%. The next year,  
> Forrester surveyed the top 140 North American companies and tagged  
> Open Office’s market share at 8.5%. In 2005, the Yankee Group  
> estimated Open Office’s market share, for small- and medium-sized  
> businesses, at 19%. The most recent international survey, from  
> Freeform Dynamics, puts the home market share at 20% and the  
> business share at about 7%.



--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
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Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961