On Fri, 2008-01-18 at 09:55 +0500, Syed Zillay Ali wrote: > Hi, > I have been working in Open Office org and MS Office as well, since > long. I however still wonder, what are the benefits that companies get > by offering a free software? Or it is just a community effort, no > company behind? There are other open source applications also available, > like Sun Office, but they are not free. I'm interested to know about the > free ones..
The advantage to Sun in this case was that OOo broke Microsoft's monopoly on office software by offering a product that was good enough for businesses to use as an MS Office replacement. For Sun, who sell non-Windows systems, this then meant that there was a viable office product that ran on their systems, which makes them much more attractive to their customers. While Sun could have pushed ahead with StarOffice as a closed-source commercial product, they realised that they'd get better market penetration ( and hence credibility ) and also faster development by open-sourcing it. So for Sun, it was all about prying open the Microsoft Office monopoly. Others have tried break into markets via a legal route ( ie anti-trust cases etc ), and while they have technically 'won', in reality this win has been a costly endeavour with no real benefits. -- Daniel Kasak IT Developer NUS Consulting Group Level 5, 77 Pacific Highway North Sydney, NSW, Australia 2060 T: (+61) 2 9922-7676 / F: (+61) 2 9922 7989 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] website: http://www.nusconsulting.com.au --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
