Before you think of being a do-gooder...

[Tom Watts]

Jamon Camisso wrote:
> Walter Dnes wrote:
>> On Mon, May 29, 2006 at 10:23:56AM -0400, Tim Writer wrote
>>
>>> The public's constant demand for new and exciting over tried and true
>>> is as much responsible for this as the industry. And by "public",
>>> I mean individuals and businesses.
>>
>>   The public doesn't demand "new" versions of Word.  They demand
>> versions of Word that handle all the Word documents they work with.
>>
>>   - customer A has Word 97
>>
>>   - customers B, C, and D buy new machines and get Word 2003, which
>>     defaults to saving in Word 2003 format... which Word 97 can't read.
>>
>>   - customer A *MUST* get Word 2003 in order to be able to read Word
>>     2003 documents
>>
>>   Of course, if ODF becomes the standard, then customer A can download a
>> free ODF-handler plugin, and doesn't have to buy Word 2003.  *THAT* hits
>> the Office half of Microsoft's high-margin duo.  Once a customer is
>> comfortable running OpenOffice, switching from Windows to linux becomes
>> less of a learning curve, because he won't have to dump his current
>> office suite.  ODF is the "thin-edge-of-the-wedge" that will make
>> desktop linux feasable for the mass market.  MS *MUST* stop ODF to
>> maintain not only their office suite monopoly, but also their Windows
>> monopoly.
> 
> So, to engage in wild speculation, who votes for MS creating a Linux 
> port of Office or dumping money at Codeweavers or Wine vs. opening their 
> .doc/.xml format or whatever their 2003 offering uses?
> 
> Anyone follow Port25, Microsoft's "Open Source Software Lab" as they 
> call it (a win for ESR that): http://port25.technet.com ? I don't, 
> curious as to whether it is a FUD machine or actually provides some 
> insight MS's adoption/policy(ies).
> 
> Jamon
> 
> 

I find it impossible to simply envision Microsoft putting a product on 
the market that is intended to run on Linux.  That's all I really have 
to add.

-Tom
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