Open To Change?

A monopoly is never a good thing so it is always great news when someone launches a legitimate challenge to Microsoft. In this case, I am talking about some renewed rebellion in Office apps arena.Microsoft Office has dominated the desktop for what seems like forever and a day. Sure, there have been alternatives to the software suite knowledge workers depend upon to handle tasks ranging from memos and reports to spreadsheets, but Microsoft has remained largely unchallenged in this space. However, there are some other options available, thanks in large part to some new challenges from Sun, Google, and the open source community.

The city of Los Angeles scrapped Microsoft Office in favor of OpenOffice in an effort to save more than $5 million in licensing fees. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts did the same, and have many other organizations and companies. But a few brave sort-of-early adopters don't a movement make.