[odf-discuss] ITWire article: "Novell drives nail into Microsoft Office coffin"

[marbux]

Last I heard, Sun was going to add OOXML import to OOo but no export.
Novell's version of OOo + plugin has two-way import/export.

The ITWire story seems to make the common mistake of assuming that
everyone else's requirements are no more demanding than their own.
None of the plugin solutions currently out there provide sufficient
fidelity or interop for automated business processes so they will be a
hard sell in the enterprise market.

On the Office revenue stream to Microsoft, I think we may already be
past the tipping point you speak of. Microsoft's decision to provide
free OOXML retrofits for Office 2000 and later is tantamount to giving
away Office from Microsoft's standpoint. I.e., every download of the
retrofit is a lost license sale for Office 2007. No more Office
upgrade treadmill if you standardize on OOXML. Microsoft is obviously
willing to take an incredible revenue hit to flood the world with
OOXML files. And when the major new feature for the old cash cow is a
fresh coat of lipstick, that's a pretty sure sign the old gal is in a
severe decline.

Best regards,

Marbux

On 3/11/07, Alberto Barrionuevo (FFII)
<alberto.barrionuevo at extremadura.es> wrote:
> Just seen:
> http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/10185/1023/
> http://slashdot.org/articles/07/03/06/0151207.shtml
>
> Any more info about this OOXML capabilities in OOo and if OOo is
> planning to add it to the official version?
>
> With an interesting comment in ./
> ---
> I believe the yearly revenue for Microsoft Office is about 15 billion
> which is about one third of the total revenue Microsoft makes every
> year. Correct me if I'm off. Over the past five years or so Microsoft's
> stock has been essentially stagnant. And Microsoft has had to make huge
> cuts over many of the preceding quarters to hit their street
> expectations and keep the stock from tanking.
>
> Even a modest hit to the Microsoft Office revenue due to the upgrade
> treadmill from the format lock-in would have a massive effect on the
> company. Over the years Microsoft used their rapidly growing stock to
> keep salaries down and attract people with the lure of huge gains from
> their option grants. If office software revenue starts falling and
> Microsoft exec options start turning worthless I think you will start to
> see dramatic cuts at the company - the multi-billion dollar Xbox fiasco,
> the Zune mess, and many of the other let's throw money at new markets to
> try to get the stock moving attempts that Ballmer and others have tried
> since the stock peaked back around 2000.
>
> I have to imagine that Microsoft will fight this move to open office
> formats with a fury never seen before. This isn't just extra billions
> that Microsoft won't miss, it is the multi-million dollar retirement
> money for a whole lot of execs up in Redmond under direct assault by a
> bunch of dirty hippies.
> ---
>
> //Alberto.
>
>
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