Are Microsoft Office & OpenOffice Irrelevant?

[iownu]

C&P this from Cnet this a.m, curious to some of your views. I quit buying MS Office licenses about 2 yrs ago and switched to OpenOffice, and am now looking at switching to Google App's for our Offices, just not quite ready for that step yet.

Are Microsoft Office and OpenOffice irrelevant?
by Matt Asay

Do you care?

I don't mean that in any anti-Microsoft fashion. I'm just asking, "Do you still care about an office productivity suite?" I mean, in the traditional sense of that product category?

I don't, and I'm not exactly sure when my concern for Microsoft Office (or OpenOffice, for that matter) dissipated. At some point in the last few years, e-mail became my office productivity suite, with a sip here and there of Google Docs. I just don't need Office anymore. Not most of the time, anyway.



Hence, when I got my new laptop, I didn't bother getting a copy of Office, preferring instead to install OpenOffice for those odd moments when I have to review a spreadsheet. One that isn't sent to me as a Google Doc, that is.

While I'm sure I'm not alone in this, it's no secret that Microsoft continues to print billions of dollars in profits each quarter from its Office business. But I wonder how sustainable that business is.

At some point consumers are going to notice they don't use Office very often. Perhaps never. (Yes, CNET points to people who "plan race course tracks in OneNote [and] people designing needlework in Excel," but these are the exceptions, not the rule.)

And at some point, CIOs are going to realize that the vast majority of their employees don't spend any time mucking around with pivot tables or drafting documents. At most, people use Outlook, and buying an entire Office license to get e-mail feels like overkill.

We're the e-mail generation, but not necessarily Outlook's progeny. We're the SharePoint crowd, but one that would probably prefer to spend time in Facebook. Give us Twitter and IM, and we can forgo drafting a letter for weeks.

Demographics are shifting away from Office-like communication, it feels to me, and Microsoft has been slow to keep up. So, too, has its open-source competition, with OpenOffice.org apparently hiding from Microsoft technology like Bing rather than competing by changing the rules of the game.

Office is too slow--or, rather, how we communicate with it is. It's a wonderful product for its day and age, but that time appears to be fading.

[Matt90210]

I hate office. I use Pages and Keynote as opposed to Word and PowerPoint.

Openoffice is good too. I used it when I had a PC

[trendon]

I hate office. I use Pages and Keynote as opposed to Word and PowerPoint.

Speaking of irrelevant.

[Matt90210]

I hate office. I use Pages and Keynote as opposed to Word and PowerPoint.

Speaking of irrelevant.

tl;dr so I just assumed

[trendon]

I hate office. I use Pages and Keynote as opposed to Word and PowerPoint.

Speaking of irrelevant.

tl;dr so I just assumed

They just work. LOL

[Matt90210]

I hate office. I use Pages and Keynote as opposed to Word and PowerPoint.

Speaking of irrelevant.

tl;dr so I just assumed

They just work. LOL

Still at it huh?

For every one Mac problem, there are probably 50-100 PC problems.

Hell, you don't even have to look far: http://onlinedynasty.net/forum/viewtopi ... 12&t=13000

[trendon]

I hate office. I use Pages and Keynote as opposed to Word and PowerPoint.

Speaking of irrelevant.

tl;dr so I just assumed

They just work. LOL

Still at it huh?

For every one Mac problem, there are probably 50-100 PC problems.

I would hope so!

[shel311]

Trendon- 1
Matt- 0

[Dolemitesooner]

Fuck Os

I would much rather use Linux or Windows

[trendon]

Fuck Os

I would much rather use Linux or Windows

No more coffee shops, poetry, foreign affairs, and finger sandwiches for you!!!!

[dakshdar]

At least one Microsoft Office tool is open all the time when I'm at work (Outlook) and typically Word, Excel and PowerPoint are up as well.

At home, I hardly ever use any of them unless it is using Excel to run a college football gambling group in the fall.

[trendon]

I use Excel for virtually everything. The power behind this program is amazing.

[Matt90210]

I would hope so!

And that's the problem. People are fed Windows because it comes on everything, and thus are having an inferior experience. Trust me, I feel bad for those who walk into a store and buy a PC. I really do.

[trendon]

And that's the problem. People are fed Windows because it comes on everything, and thus are having an inferior experience. Trust me, I feel bad for those who walk into a store and buy a PC. I really do.

And I feel bad for people who pay 300% for an underpowered machine that has a marginally better operating system (much better if you count fucking Vista).

I'll take all of the virus problems in exchange for being able to have a powerful machine with the versatility to have whatever hardware I desire.

Take my laptop. $1100

18.4" LCD display (16x9)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 / 2.8 GHz
320GB serial ATA
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 type memory
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M (1 GIG)

Price on a MacBook? The 17-inch (largest) starts at $2499. STARTS!

LOL. If I went "crazy" and bought an Alienware box, my god, I could launch rockets from NASA for $1700.

Face it. Macintosh boxes are for people who like status and looks. PC's are for men who like power. You are a trendy sort, Matt, so I understand. It's cool to be trendy.

Seriously.

[shel311]

You are a trendy sort, Matt, so I understand.

DAMMIT!!!

If I only we had the old boards(Stupid crash), I could cue up the pics of Matt in the cut off Abercrombie shirts to really drive this point home!!!

[cougnix]

And that's the problem. People are fed Windows because it comes on everything, and thus are having an inferior experience. Trust me, I feel bad for those who walk into a store and buy a PC. I really do.

And I feel bad for people who pay 300% for an underpowered machine that has a marginally better operating system (much better if you count fucking Vista).

I'll take all of the virus problems in exchange for being able to have a powerful machine with the versatility to have whatever hardware I desire.

Take my laptop. $1100

18.4" LCD display (16x9)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 / 2.8 GHz
320GB serial ATA
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 type memory
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M (1 GIG)

Price on a MacBook? The 17-inch (largest) starts at $2499. STARTS!

LOL. If I went "crazy" and bought an Alienware box, my god, I could launch rockets from NASA for $1700.

Face it. Macintosh boxes are for people who like status and looks. PC's are for men who like power. You are a trendy sort, Matt, so I understand. It's cool to be trendy.

Seriously.

Price is a key, but how many of those PC laptops you going to buy in the next 4 to 6 years? 2? 3?

Or, how many times you going to have to upgrade the virus protection? Or have to take it to Geek Squad to get the HD cleared and start over?

1 MacBook will last longer than that...

I am not one to argue these types of issues because I am a casual computer user and only really mess around with PhotoShop, but since I have had my iMac I have had no issues and it takes up less space. I LOVED my PC for years, but found the Mac experience to be much more pleasing to me...

[nick]

mac owners = fan boys

that's all it is.

[Dolemitesooner]

Fuck Os

I would much rather use Linux or Windows

No more coffee shops, poetry, foreign affairs, and finger sandwiches for you!!!!

I still love all of the above

[iownu]

I am/have been surrounded and work with pc's all of my working career which has been 23 yrs, I make recommendations & purchase Servers & Desktop Pc's for our County and all of its offices, close to 700 users. Have and for any future plans, I plan on using Windows and Pc's, although we switched from Novell Netware on all our Desktops & Servers about 5 yrs ago.

But the choices made above are only for familiarity and education purposes, I have 2 Macbook's, a MacMini Server and a I-Mac in my house, I have 1 PC that I have not been on in 2 yrs. If it was my decision and I had the knowledge, time & training to switch the County over to a total Mac environment, I would. I think most of the points made above are all in some instances true, If you only want to look at cpu's, gig's and the size of your screen then go buy your Acer for 500.00 and another and another and another, like Joe said I'll keep my Macbook I bought 3 yrs ago, even though yes it was overpriced and it looks pretty cool for us geeks.

But there is no disputing as someone who uses both every day, that the Mac's are more then just a cool gadget, they are much much more stable, easier to use, and for me at home they are great because there is rarely a file or video that I run across that I cant open or play, to sound like a commercial they all just "work". I spend all day helping users with simple crap, and telling them not to worry about those 2000 pop up's that come up, I dont need to go home and have my Wife and kids asking me the same stuff, and they dont need to with the Mac's, I have restarted my Mac Mini Server 2 times in 2 yrs, for browser updates,thats it. I know everyone has their views and mind wont change those, but If someone asks me for a recommendation on a laptop or home pc, I always recommend a Mac.

[trendon]

And that's the problem. People are fed Windows because it comes on everything, and thus are having an inferior experience. Trust me, I feel bad for those who walk into a store and buy a PC. I really do.

And I feel bad for people who pay 300% for an underpowered machine that has a marginally better operating system (much better if you count fucking Vista).

I'll take all of the virus problems in exchange for being able to have a powerful machine with the versatility to have whatever hardware I desire.

Take my laptop. $1100

18.4" LCD display (16x9)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 / 2.8 GHz
320GB serial ATA
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 type memory
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M (1 GIG)

Price on a MacBook? The 17-inch (largest) starts at $2499. STARTS!

LOL. If I went "crazy" and bought an Alienware box, my god, I could launch rockets from NASA for $1700.

Face it. Macintosh boxes are for people who like status and looks. PC's are for men who like power. You are a trendy sort, Matt, so I understand. It's cool to be trendy.

Seriously.

Price is a key, but how many of those PC laptops you going to buy in the next 4 to 6 years? 2? 3?

Or, how many times you going to have to upgrade the virus protection? Or have to take it to Geek Squad to get the HD cleared and start over?

1 MacBook will last longer than that...

I am not one to argue these types of issues because I am a casual computer user and only really mess around with PhotoShop, but since I have had my iMac I have had no issues and it takes up less space. I LOVED my PC for years, but found the Mac experience to be much more pleasing to me...

The only reason I have a new laptop every three years is because they come out with games like Crysis every three years.

I guess it boils down to balls. I like powerful-ass machines. And my laptop, my Sony laptop, would run circles around most Macs (desktop or not), has a current uptime of over four weeks, and cost 65% less.

And, when I want, I can change all of the components on my own! You guys can keep your Mercedes ... I'll take the Formula One car.

But don't act like the thing "just works", I worked tech support for an ISP for four years and the Mac (then running 8.1) has the same problems as any OS.