[LINK] Oracle and OpenOffice

[David Lochrin]

Recently I wrote:

>> I wasn't aware that Sun and Microsoft/Clever Age both have Office 
>> plugins for ODF support.  I'd expect the Sun plugin to work, but 
>> the Microsoft/Clever Age plugin (funded by Microsoft) seems 
>> much better than the native Office-2007 SP2 support which, 
>> at least re spreadsheets, is terrible.
>>
>> And the Microsoft/Clever Age plugin is an open-source project - 
>> whatever can be happening to Microsoft?  Have they had a 
>> corporate epiphany?

and Kim Holburn replied:

> Being very cynical I'd say it's another attempt based on BG's 
> maxim for dealing with competition: Embrace, extend, extinguish.  
> Although in general it hasn't worked so well with open-source.  
> Watch carefully the "special license" terms.

To cap off the role reversal, Oracle have ceased making this plugin available as a free download and are now charging US$90 for a single-user licence - see http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=29686

Considering the whole purpose of the plugin is to enable inter-operability between Microsoft Office and OpenOffice, Oracle's decision seems short-sighted in the extreme.  It leads me to wonder whether Oracle are attempting to stamp out the culture at Sun now that they own it.  But that has been tried before, and it always fails in the long run...

David