Microsoft 'desperate', says OpenOffice.org

Open source advocates slam Microsoft's defensive shotgun salvo over patents

By Gregg Keizer, Computerworld (US online)

OpenOffice.org Monday called Microsoft Corp.'s assertion that its open-source application suite violates 45 of its patents "a desperate act."
"It's just hard to put into credible terms," said Louis Suarez-Potts, a community manager for OpenOffice.org and seven-year veteran of the all-volunteer group. "I don't understand what motivated Microsoft to risk so much with a position that can only serve to alienate [enterprise] customers, as well as those millions of people who use Linux."

In an interview with Fortune posted on the magazine's website Sunday, Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, spelled out the company's position. During the interview, Smith claimed that OpenOffice.org, the open-source alternative to Microsoft's own Office suite, violates nearly four dozen patents. Smith did not specify the patents Microsoft believes have been violated by the application collection; nor did a follow-up statement issued by a Microsoft spokesman Monday.

OpenOffice, which is available in editions for both Windows and Linux, can be downloaded and used for free. A version written for Apple's Mac OS X should reach beta testing later this year. Microsoft Office, meanwhile, comes in versions for Windows and Mac OS X.

"This is an extraordinary and desperate act," said Suarez-Potts, who works for the Canadian-based Collaborative Network Technologies. "I think it will backfire. Microsoft's using a shotgun against open-source."

Suarez-Potts saw evidence of the scattershot approach in Microsoft's focus on GPLv3, version 3 of the Free Software Foundation's General Public License. A Microsoft spokesman today said: "The latest draft of the GPLv3 attempts to tear down the bridge between proprietary and open source technology that Microsoft has worked to build with the industry and customers."

But OpenOffice doesn't even use the GPL license, Suarez-Potts noted. "We use the LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License)."
Previously, the only head-butting between Microsoft and OpenOffice.org has been over document formats, with the former pushing its Open XML and the latter promoting the open-source ODF (Open Document Format).
"Incredible and amazing, those are the words I have for this," concluded Suarez-Potts

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smells like microsoft facing some real competition

Open Office is not a copy cat,they are better in some areas than M$ Office.
Although M$ Office may be better

praka123 said:
Open Office is not a copy cat,they are better in some areas than M$ Office.
Although M$ Office may be better

I never used openoffice, but would like to know the areas where it is better then MS Office

if u want to compare MS office and Open Office then MS Office wins hands down. and with their 2007 version they have left their competitors far behind (only in Office

)

first of all : You get full functional office suite for free..

first of all : You get full functional office suite for free..

Free, yes the biggest point.

Fully functional : Questionable. This is why I asked, money aside what features makes OpenOffice better then MS office

none .....

gx_saurav said:
I never used openoffice, but would like to know the areas where it is better then MS Office

As for me,I am not a big user of writer.but let's see a single plus point:
It can directly export a docu to pdf format.

And do remember me as a person who left using windows! before ranting comaprisons with latest office 2080 version OK?

Well, Even office 2007 can do that.

So kind of an irrelevent feature.

Any other feature.

(& do remember that the addon cannot be bundled but needs to be downloaded cos Adobe Sued MS for bundling)

well who cars about pdf now tht xps is here

^^ LOL! You THINK XPS has replaced PDF?

never said tht but u can take docs to xps from office without any addon and then open em in ie

And then what about us "poor" linux users? I thought PDF was popular cuz its a cross platform format!

XPS is nothing right now. PDF rocks, it is already a E-Paper standerd. It will take quite sometime for XPS to gain acceptence. Like I have mentioned in a thread before, content providers need to provide content in both XPS & PDF if XPS has to be popular.

iMav

You forogt that XPS requirs .net 3.0 to be installed in XP

I'm not an advanced user of office suites so basically I find both the same. But I find that the MS-Word documents load faster than the Word-Processor of Open Office on my system!
Neways here r some differences that I read from few links and might interest others too!
*www.realtechnews.com/posts/1705
*www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1850985,00.asp

Well well what else to say, Its not just Digitans who fight here.. but also the great gaints.

@Gaurav--> Not that I hate MS Office but i have a reason (price) for it..Where as Open office serves max of my request.... This is one of the reason I love OO..Thanks,

btw... OO Takes bit a lot on system resources for sure....

my 2 cents

eBro

^^ Only while starting?

office.org sucks

Openoffice is good is you wanna to normal stuff , but for Advanced formatting n very comples layout n spreadsheets Office 2k7 wins hand down .

i like both n both r very useful for the task you wanna do . you wouldn't write a basic text-document with Word 2k7 eh

you wouldn't write a basic text-document with Word 2k7 eh

Why?

Mate, differences r needed. So tell the differences between them for "Advanced formatting"!

MS Office is much better when you compare its features.

But Open Office gets the job done for free.

Open office despite of high memory usage, does the job for a single user system. For home use it is enough like making a resume or draft or latter etc in Word or Writer.

Almost all r giving expert opinions!

Open Office 2.0 Kicks MS Office Around the Block

I’ve always been a fan of Open Source software, but I have to admit that frequently the quality of free and Open Source software leaves something to be desired when compared to their commercial counterparts. That said, nothing can beat these applications where price is concerned. I first tried OpenOffice years ago when it was still prior to version 1.0. I noticed immediately that the suite had a lot of potential. Up until then, I had been primarily using the Lotus suite at home because it came with our computer. In fact, I felt so comfortable using it that it quickly became my first choice of office applications. I never bought MS Office after Office XP ,and I rarely ever used that.

My primary use for OpenOffice has always been as a word processor and I believe this is an area where it excels (so to speak!). For anyone used to MS Office, the difference in the two interfaces is minimal. In fact, I find it easier to use OpenOffice’s interface than MS Office’s for various things such as inserting a header and footer. To create or change a header and footer in MS Office XP, you must go to the “view” menu. I’m not sure why something like a header or footer would be placed in the “view” menu before it is actually part of a document. OpenOffice placed these options in their “insert” menu—a placement that I believe makes much more intuitive sense. The OpenOffice word processor also has all of the font and text options one would expect placed in their own tool bars. OpenOffice also supports all of the major features of MS Office (and a few of its own) except for the grammar check. I’m personally fine with not having a grammar checker since it has given me the opportunity to actually learn the English language instead of relying on my word processor to make my sentences coherent.
....read more

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If someone has done an indepth review then please post!

Well actaully one notaicable point i would like to mention that is When you convert the OO Write docu to pdf...and MS Word to pdf... you see the spacing is too much in OO where as that is not there in MS Word at all, its just replica of the doc.

eBro

there are paid versions of Openoffice too.staroffice and one for MAC?

paid versions? but i thought its the donation for the community.....

eBRo

as i've said in my earlier post , Ms Office is The Best n to get The Best you have to pay some premium just as is the case with other products , CPU's , Mobo , RAM , etc