[odf-discuss] Microsoft and Novell cooperate on document formats

[marbux]

[more]

On 11/2/06, M. Fioretti <mfioretti at mclink.it> wrote:

> I still have to think it through thoroughly, but the part I find more
> worrying is this:
>
> >The companies said they will also work on ensuring compatibility
> >between software document formats, including Microsoft's popular
> >Office software and OpenOffice, a set of open-source applications.
>
> If the OO.o shipped with SUSE (and that only) got plugins that render
> MSO files (complex ones, with macros etc..) correctly, it would be for
> many users a powerful reason not to bother with ODF.


My guess is that it would take until the 12th of Never for such plug-ins to
be developed. There was no mention of licensing Visual Basic for
Applications to Novell and ditto for OLE, er Activ-X.  Considering the level
of integration needed to marry SuSE and OpenOffice with Activ-X, I doubt
Microsoft would even consider allowing it to become licensed under the GPL
for use on Linux.

The real plums for Microsoft here that I've come up with so far are: [i]
getting a paycheck for the SuSE-Zen Linux database market; and [ii] being
able to show ISO that multiple apps are developing support for MOOX, a
prerequisite to ISO standardization.

But one of the flies in the ointment is the amount of work on OOo it would
take to allow it to fully support MOOX. Novell turned its back on the office
suite market years ago when it sold WordPerfect, QuattroPro, and
Presentations to Corel. The company's only relevant expertise is in
groupware, courtesy of the few WordPerfect developers it kept to keep going
what was renamed as Groupwise. It would be hard for Novell to come up with
enough developers with the right skills to extend OOo so far as it would
need to go to fully support MOOX, even assuming it had the capital to do so.


Another major fly is the fact that the deal expires in five years. I can't
imagine many enterprises would be all that interested in buying into a
scheme that gives Microsoft the ability to force them back to MS Office (and
Windows) in five years when the deal (and hence its patent protection)
expire.

Remember too that Microsoft still has to get this deal approved by antitrust
authorities on several continents.  I suspect that many of them will not be
pleased to see Microsoft acquiring a financial interest in the only
competing operating system and office software products that have been
experiencing market share growth in the same markets Microsoft holds
monopoly positions. I would not be surprised to hear that the E.C.'s DG
Competition is taking an interest in this deal.

It will take a lot more consideration, but so far I'm not seeing any huge
new reason for concern in regard to ODF. Europe and a host of nations around
the world still want to get out from under Microsoft's vendor lock-in
tactics. I doubt many will look at the situation and decide that MOOX
suddenly makes more sense. It's going to be fun when the text of the deal
breaks loose. And it will, sooner or later.

It would still be a stupid reason, but stupid things happen...
>
> Yup. But if this is the best Microsoft can come up with,
we should rejoice. It's a pretty stupid move in my book.


Best regards,

Marbux
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