14 DAY TRIAL // A number of customers have dumped an open source productivity suite for Microsoft Office, citing superior value from the Redmond company’s solution. Just as Windows has an open source alternative in the various distributions of Linux, so Microsoft Office is rivaled by OpenOffice.
And just as it is the case with Linux and additional open source offerings, the most applauded advantage over closed source software is related to the cost.
Open source is by definition free. However, Microsoft has been challenging this, noting that as far as companies are concerned cost does not stop with the acquisition.
In addition to the direct costs implied by a specific product, there is also an additional, indirect cost. Enterprise customers refer to is as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and it includes expenditures such as support, and tech assistance.
Microsoft has highlighted a total of 15 customers which dumped the free OpenOffice for Microsoft Office citing multiple reasons such as cost advantages, better support, enhanced productivity, etc.
“After many years of listening to the supposed promise of free software and even trying it themselves, these organizations and individuals were brave enough to recognize a lack of cost savings on top of the constant headaches around managing OpenOffice.org,” revealed Microsoft’s Raymond Thomas.
“I’m sure that OpenOffice.org fanatics will respond with all sorts of criticisms and links to customers who’ve moved from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org."
“While this may seem like a valid counter-argument I urge you to consider that with an install base of over 750 million users it’s not difficult to find a few who want to investigate alternative solutions."
“What would really be an adequate counterpoint would be to showcase customers who were originally using OpenOffice.org, switched to Microsoft Office only to have a poor experience, and then switched back to OpenOffice.org.”
Granted, the Redmond company is subjective when it comes down to Microsoft Office vs. OpenOffice, but the software giant shared the case studies with the public, and the docs offer the perspective of customers that actually tried OpenOffice and then dumped it.
There’s a video embedded at the bottom of this article, and there are also links to a number of test cases, some a tad older and others from 2010.
“Generally what people expect from Microsoft is for us to explain why our products are better than competitors’,” Thomas added.
“It’s not very surprising to hear us talk about why we love our own software. It’s true we might not be the most unbiased source in this debate."
“So, rather than sharing our own views on the advantages of Microsoft Office over OpenOffice.org (an open source productivity suite) we want to share our customers’ views on the topic.”
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Office Home and Business 2010 RTM Build 14.0.4760.1000 is available for download here.
Office Home and Student 2010 RTM Build 14.0.4760.1000 is available for download here.
Office Professional 2010 RTM Build 14.0.4760.1000 is available for download here.