Get Off Microsoft

True to form, Microsoft is spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) to stall efforts to standardize on a more open document format supported by other applications.

Would the switch to Open Source software — or for that matter, anything that’s not Microsoft — be as attractive or even more attractive to individual/home computer users than business users?

My test results point out the folly of relying on benchmarks that measure performance outside the norm. If the difference between one program’s save and another program’s save is the blink of an eye, there is no difference.

Don’t base your choice of OpenOffice.org or Microsoft Office on such as simple comparison as George Ou’s test.

This major overhaul of OpenOffice.org adds OpenDoc support and a database.

The buzz is growing about Web applications one day replacing Microsoft Office, and perhaps replacing Outlook even sooner. And the Google-Sun alliance is fueling that buzz, for no other reason than people really want to see Microsoft challenged.

Ajax enables developers to put together Web applications that rival the best desktop applications.

At least one government customer of the free OpenOffice.org package thinks it’s OK

At first glance, my reaction to Microsoft’s pre-announced, pre-Beta version of Office 12 was, once again, “god help us, we’re in the hands of engineers.”

Until Apple gets its XML act together with iWork, consider using OpenOffice.org if you want compatibility with the OpenDocument standard.