Zed Rafi said:
I think when there will be an office suite as capable as
microsoft office that is free and available under linux, that's
when linux is really going to start taking off more seriously
and when microsoft windows will start to lose it's monopoly and
have some serious problems.
That's not the complete story. OpenOffice in its current form
would be a perfect Office replacement for 99% of company use.
There is a combination of other factors that's hampering Linux
adoption: (i) the cost of migrating all personnel to Linux (they
will need at least some training), (ii) the conviction that
payware is inherently better, (iii) deciding on drastic changes
take courage. People always stick to what they're used to, until
the alternative gets *significantly* better than that.
One of the big arguments in the current situation is the vendor
lock-in, and the document format support. People are beginning to
notice that compatibility between different Office versions is
*not* what it should be, and that older documents might get lost
forever. Even if you have the ability to program stuff, you're
still lost because the file format specifications are secret. Add
to that the cost of licenses, and you've got something to think
about.
That's currently the biggest pro of OpenOffice: it defaults on a
standard, open document format, that will be readable for much
longer than your average Office 97 document. It's accessible for
anyone, and programmers around the world can rely on the document
format specifications to develop supporting software.
Just my 2 cents,
Wald
