I have a really good feeling about this for various reasons, not least of all i think this decision could ultimately do more for Linux adoption than the end of Windows XP, Steam games being ported to Linux or the catastrophe that is Windows 8
Microsoft Office dependency is one of the last hold outs for many users and businesses alike sticking with Microsoft Windows and this will free many from that dependency
Apparently this will save the UK tax payer around £1.2 billion, as far as I can see that can only equate to one thing no more MS Office licences, so will that mean government offices moving over to Libre Office (I see no other alternative) and if so that’s got to have a snowball effect nationwide and beyond
How long will it be before we see other countries following suit and on it goes
Intuit has MS Office support in Quickbooks, how long will it be before they include support for Libre Office and ultimately a linux port (another major stumbling block for Linux adoption)
Maybe I’m being naively optimistic maybe not, but I never felt that the end of Windows XP, Steam games on Linux or Windows 8 would do all that much for Linux adoption but I have a feeling this could be huge
I don’t think there’ll be any particular thing that people will look back on and say “that was the thing that did it”, Linux and open source has turned out to be exactly what Steve Ballmer accused it of being … like a cancer.
It’s slow, creeping, unstoppable, it takes over everything it touches, and is deadly to the old system.
He was only talking about the GPL but kinda prophetic
In truth it’s nothing like a cancer as it’s constructive … more like an antibiotic that kills off parasites … but I can see the analogy from his point, trouble is it just makes me laugh
So Windows is not the first focus of the company any more…
Release Office for every device…
They’re ignoring the fact that without Windows, why would people on other devices pay for an office suite they’ve already learned to live without … wise up fool, it’s already too late, the old cash cows already caught the cancer.
They know this to be true - All they can do is slow the inevitable, and hope some genius who works for them comes up with something clever before they run outa money … problem is the innovative people all went elsewhere.
“Their feedback made it clear just how important choosing the right way of publishing documents is. Using an open standard will mean people won’t have costs imposed on them just to view or work with information from government. It’s a big step forward, and I’m delighted we’re taking it.”
it tells me there are hundreds maybe thousands of businesses and agencies out there who are sick of paying the Microsoft tax when there’s an equally good and free alternative office suite, how long will it be before they realise there’s an equally good if not better, free operating system like the city of Munich did
MS Office lies at the very foundation of the Microsoft empire, if office becomes irrelevant Windows becomes irrelevant, the potential collateral damage this can inflict on Microsoft is enormous which can only be a good thing for Linux and the open source movement as a whole.
I’m not saying this is the thing that will bring down Microsoft they’re still a massive power in computing and they will fight back but for me it’s the biggest contributor so far, bit by bit open source is eating away at that power (yeah like a cancer) and there can only be one outcome
The sun is setting on Microsoft and the year of the Linux desktop is just around the corner …(oh my god did i really say that) ???
It’s a massive jump from the government using ODF, and Linux taking over. My Windows machine is quite happily running LibreOffice - and I suspect that will be the way things will go for a long while yet (probably until Windows 7 support ends in 5-8-10-“however many years M$ continue to cling onto it”)
I’m sorry Emegra, but your statement below is just false:
Microsoft Office dependency is one of the last hold outs for many users and businesses alike sticking with Microsoft Windows and this will free many from that dependency
You’ve got expensive CAD software, Photoshop, Win/Mac video editing suites, financial systems like Oracle & SAP, and thousands of other little systems all written on Microsoft APIs (example, our vehicle tracking software is a standalone client app, meaning Windows). The more software that presents its interface as a web page, the more likely businesses can/will migrate to Linux (just look at Peppermint’s Ice), but realistically we are miles away from that all the time developers are in Microsoft’s pocket. Don’t forget training too - re-training your entire workforce to use different software costs a bomb, and is a real pain in the backside. It’s a hard sell getting that business case through.
Of course, with this news, if I were Microsoft, I’d just adopt the ODF standard more robustly (it is open, after all), and continue to peddle Microsoft Office as the office suite with commercial support, with widespread 3rd-party extension support, the nicest interface, familarity, and loads of other marketing BS & FUD that Microsoft normally use to flog their products.
I'm sorry Emegra, but your statement below is just false:
I did say “ONE” of the last hold out’s I know there are many others which is why I gave mention to Quickbooks in my first post as an example but I still see it as a giant leap for Linuxkind & opensource in general, but yeah you’re right there’s still a long way to go (probably longer than I thought) and Microsoft is still a force to be reckoned with
Here’s an article that I think describes how Microsoft’s is screwing everyone and it’s perceived commitment to open standards to a tee and why I believe this is big issue,
Very interesting, especially the last paragraph where the author admits to being a daily Excel user himself. I feel the same way - I’m lucky enough for my company to have paid to send me on VBA/macro training, and it’s changed my working life. Reports that used to take me an hour to produce now take minutes (after the initial half-day coding investment). These are unportable thanks to LibreOffice’s macro language (a choice of their propriatory language, or Python). Admittedly, I don’t know anything about LibreOffice macros, and I’m quite comfortable with Python, so maybe I’d get on alright, but it’d be a kick in the teeth at this stage to have to go through all those coding investments again.
