Microsoft Office’s dominance as the premier office application is now challenged more than ever with the release of applications that are similar in feature or even stronger in terms of their use. MS Word, MS Excel and MS Powerpoint used to be the standard applications for almost everything being done in offices. Every release is waited on and applied immediately, hoping this will be the better software than it was last year. Personally, I think we got stuck in 2003 when it comes to the office applications. The next generation of office applications developed by Microsoft is not that appealing anymore. And I think I’m not alone with this conclusion. Millions out there are still using 2003 as the primary tool for office applications. MS Office 2007 is quite good but not enough to sway us to change our simple and very effective Office 2003.
Now there are office applications ready to challenge the powerhouse of MS office. They don’t just bank on the idea of getting things done faster compared to graphics intensive MS office, but they are also free. If you’re a manager or the owner of a very big corporation where computers are numbered by hundreds, you will be paying thousands of dollars for the licensed office application. However, with free office software you can practically have the same experience without having to pay a single cent for these products.
One of these products is the software release by OpenOffice.Org. It has successfully created office applications that will rival the powerhouse giant. Their version of office even has the ability to export files as PDF without additional software. They also have Calc (Excel), Impress, (Powerpoint), Base (Access), Draw (CorelDraw) and Math (MS Equation Editor). Millions of downloads have been logged by the creators and there’s no signs that it will stop anytime.
Aside from offline competition, there are also online competition that’s even more powerful because of the connectivity to the internet. Google has set of products that are the same as the standard office application. While you’re writing a document or creating a simple excel file, you can allow others to watch you do it in real time anywhere in the world. They may even add some notes or help you with creating the file in real time. Just recently, Google made an announcement that it’s releasing Google Presentations. By the name you will immediately recognize its similarity to Office Powerpoint. Yahoo even joined the bandwagon and purchased Zimbra for $350 million. Zimbra is an e-mail application that can easily be recognized similar to MS Outlook. It will be months now before yahoo mail will become a better e-mail that what it is today.
Microsoft Corporation is acknowledging this competition. They have slashed the prices of the office applications and students can buy it for as low as $60. Still $60 is not free but as a standard leader they still have followers. We will be seeing a lot of competition and it’s a fierce one.
[...] When OpenOffice.org released a series of free software, Microsoft’s Office productivity software didn’t feel a thing as it continued its powerful hold in the market on these types of software. Then Google released their online version of the office productivity software. Its ability to share information coupled with the ease of creating documents was also taken to the next level. Microsoft may have been concerned a little bit since it’s just online and most offices will still prefer productivity tools offline or pre-installed in their computers. [...]
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