IBM to offer free office software, targeting Microsoft

IBM to offer free office software, targeting Microsoft

BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- IBM Corp. is to start offering free programs for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations, in another bid to upset the dominance of Microsoft's Office suite, media reported Tuesday.

The company was scheduled to announce the desktop software, called IBM Lotus Symphony, at an event Tuesday.

The name for the suite is the same name IBM used for its first integrated productivity suite, which it offered in the 1980s but which never took off with customers.

Mike Rhodin, general manager of Lotus Software for the IBM Software Group, said the company brought back the name to "herald in a new age" of productivity software.

The programs will be available as free downloads from the IBM Web site.

IBM's Lotus-branded proprietary programs already compete with Microsoft products for e-mail, messaging and work group collaboration. But the Symphony software is a free alternative to Microsoft's mainstay Office programs -- Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The Office business is huge and lucrative for Microsoft, second only to its Windows operating system as a profit maker.

Microsoft's Office suite of products already faces some competition from Google Inc's online tools, called Google Apps. (Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/)

IBM Takes on Office; So Does Everyone Else

This morning I went to IBM's Collaboration Summit, expecting to hear a lot about the future of IBM Lotus Notes and related products. That I did, with IBM executives talking about really turning Notes into a complete collaborative workspace, , though better integration and tools like the Sametime messaging client, Quickr document sharing platform, and Connections social networking tools. (I am working on a review of Notes 8, which I hope to post later in the week.)

But I was a more surprised to see IBM re-entering the productivity applications space, with Lotus Symphony, a new suite of a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application based on the OpenOffice code. 

To some extent, this shouldn't have been much of a surprise, as the applications are already bundled with Notes 8, though not with the Symphony name; and IBM last week announced its intention to join the OpenOffice.org group and contribute some of its additions back to OpenOffice. (Source: http://blogs.pcmag.com/)

IBM Symphony falls on deaf ears without open source e-mail, calendar

IBM’s debut of its homegrown open source version of OpenOffice without e-mail or collaboration features is not surprising but nevertheless disappointing.

On the one hand, Big Blue’s recent endorsement and support and services plan for OpenOffice — an acknowledgement of the obsolescence of SmartSuite and Workplace — offers new hope for the struggling open source desktop.

On the other hand, the company’s release of free downloadable word processing, spreadsheet and presentation modules in beta form today with no complementary open source collaboration component stomps out any of that excitement.

IBM Lotus Symphony is more like a resurrected Workplace-like add-on for IBM’s proprietary Lotus Notes 8 and Domino upgrades (also announced today) than a genuine effort to pit OpenOffice against Microsoft Office.

Let’s face it: Lotus Notes is the crown jewel in IBM’s software productivity portfolio. Neither Lotus SmartSuite nor IBM’s Workplace components ever made a dent in Microsoft’s Office monopoly, and Symphony will likely follow the same path without a collaboration component. (Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/)

Top Tech Consultancy Touts Google Office Suite

United States of America (Press Release) September 11, 2007 -- Technology consultancy Capgemini will begin recommending Google Inc.'s (GOOG) online suite of office software to its corporate customers, bolstering the Internet search leader's effort to drum up more sales to big businesses.

The partnership to be announced Monday represents the first time one of the world's top technology consulting services has embraced Google's software bundle, which includes e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets and calendar management.

Capgemini, based in Paris, France, influences the type of software used on more than 1 million personal computers in companies worldwide. Its major customers include drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) and accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Capgemini also will continue to support business software made by other vendors, including Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and IBM Corp. (IBM) — the dominant forces in a field that Google only recently entered. (Source: http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200709/1189500872.html)