Posted by: Anonymous
[ip: 65.38.40.223]
on February 08, 2008 06:21 PM
What -- you think OpenOffice is going to go out of business? Microsoft is going to "cut off its air-supply"? You _still_ haven't wrapped your mind around the concept of Free/Open-Source Software yet, have you?
And _notice_ , both OOo and KOffice are using ODF -- which means that their customers don't have to choose between one or the other; they can use both. And AbiWord, and a few others both free and proprietary.
People are finally remembering that software is inherently a commodity, and adapting to that reality. This business isn't selling the office suite, but rather the service of working that software into forms more useful/profitable to the users.
Think of it sort of like timber -- that's a freely available commodity. Anybody can chop a tree down, or buy so-many board-feet at Home Depot, but we still pay others to mill the wood, and to convert into buildings, desks, and cabinets, and pay yet others to design these things to suit our own specific needs. Nobody laughs at a new architect or cabinet-maker for gettiing in the same line of business as Arthur Erikson or Ikea. If they're any good, they force the Big Boys to actually compete, and we praise them for it.
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Re : Object lesson in how to lose to Microsoft
Posted by: Anonymous [ip: 65.38.40.223] on February 08, 2008 06:21 PMAnd _notice_ , both OOo and KOffice are using ODF -- which means that their customers don't have to choose between one or the other; they can use both. And AbiWord, and a few others both free and proprietary.
People are finally remembering that software is inherently a commodity, and adapting to that reality. This business isn't selling the office suite, but rather the service of working that software into forms more useful/profitable to the users.
Think of it sort of like timber -- that's a freely available commodity. Anybody can chop a tree down, or buy so-many board-feet at Home Depot, but we still pay others to mill the wood, and to convert into buildings, desks, and cabinets, and pay yet others to design these things to suit our own specific needs. Nobody laughs at a new architect or cabinet-maker for gettiing in the same line of business as Arthur Erikson or Ikea. If they're any good, they force the Big Boys to actually compete, and we praise them for it.
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