Comments:

1. Quote:

   Originally Posted by Sensei The IBM tools, dubbed Symphony, are <a href="http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.jspa" target="_blank">available for download</a> free of charge online and will provide access to documents, spreadsheets and presentations on machines supported by Windows and Linux desktops, according to IBM. Customers who purchase the latest version of IBM's Lotus Notes will also receive Symphony. Symphony will also feature optional, fee-based support for businesses, Ed Brill, a business unit executive for worldwide sales at IBM/Lotus, said at a Tuesday launch event in Manhattan. Symphony is based on the open document format (ODF), which allows for the open standards favored by IBM but generally shunned by Microsoft. IBM last week joined OpenOffice.org, an open source project founded by Sun Microsystems in 2000, to which IBM will be making code contributions. Source: <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2184769,00.asp">PCMag.com</a> Since IBM is joining forces with OpenOffice.org my questions are: Will IBM's joining of the party help OpenOffice actually penetrate the Office app market? (to a serious extent) Any predictions as to how long this venture will last? Finally will Microsoft's earnings be hurt because of OpenOffice's success? OpenOffice has definitely "stayed the course" I was using OpenOffice and Abiword for a few years before I went back the evil side.

   We've already been looking at it as a titrating step. We've been moving the company(nearly 6k users) from office to openoffice very slowly over the last two years, and we're already tinkering with IBM's offer(familiar yet new). We're cutting those apron strings ever so slowly, but microsoft will be getting nothing from us one of these days!      by williamwbishop
   
2. I have convinced a friend of mine to use OOo and the GiMP for his small business.
   
   His reaction to all this high-quality free open-source software was one of amazement. He calculates that he can save around EUR 2000 alone with these two programmes.      by pingpong_fiasco
   
3. Open Source rocks.
   
   At work I built a simple web based application to record and track equipment we work on for clients from Open Source components. Thank goodness for:
   
   Apache web server
   Samba file sharing/server
   PHP ("the" way to develop web applications)
   FreeTDS (lets my app talk to Microsoft SQL servers)
   
   and many more.
   
   Microsoft (and alot of the other big players as well I suspect) would like to ban people from writing software that solves problems that their software either cannot or does not do such a reliable job at doing so. The fact that the Open Source people provide an alternative option and then let you use that option at no cost is just fabulous.
   
   I will stand corrected but I've never heard of anyone being prosecuted (sued) for giving away a piece of their own work for free.
   
   The geeks are doing it for themselves.
   
   Regards,
   
   Bit.      by bit