Microsoft Disses OpenOffice.org with New Video

By Jane McEntegart
published

OpenOffice.org is an attractive suite of software applications for a lot of people, mostly because it's a money-saving alternative to Microsoft Office. However, Microsoft is eager to point out that the best things in (office) life often aren't free.

Redmond recently posted a video to YouTube showcasing the complaints of former-OpenOffice.org users. The people in the video range from IT managers to school teachers and all seem to agree that OpenOffice.org sucks. Bailey Mitchell, Chief Information Officer for Forsyth County Schools evaluates his experience using OpenOffice.org by highlighting how happy everyone was to get back to MS Office.

"When we returned to Microsoft Office after our experience with OpenOffice, you could practically hear a collective sigh of relief across the entire district," he's quoted as saying in the video. His is one of the more extreme pro-Microsoft comments present in the clip. Most of the comments revolve around cost for support and problems with compatibility. Some of the customers quoted in the video also felt that compatibility issues led to decreased employee productivity and low morale. All told there isn't a single good thing said about OpenOffice.org.

Ars Technica reports that Microsoft put the video on private soon after it posted a story on it but the video is now back to being publicly available. The ability to comment, however, has been disabled.

An Oracle spokesperson for OpenOffice.org declined to comment on the video, as did a spokesperson for Microsoft Office.

Source: YouTube via Ars Technica

Jane McEntegart
127 Comments Comment from the forums
  • kelfen
    as long as it prints and it is free I am damn happy
    Reply
  • TheDuke
    well it's still free and more than enough for most people
    Reply
  • RailGun88
    Oh please. I use open office daily, an don't have to maintain it. The update manager does it. And also I have had no problems between MS Office and Open Office. I'm disappointed in you Microsoft. And anyways it took me only two weeks to get used to it.
    Reply
  • alikum
    kelfenas long as it prints and it is free I am damn happyThat may be the case for home user. Have you ever thought of how a business is going to survive without Microsoft Office (or an alternative which doesn't suck)? They don't just view and print, they actually work with it. I have worked with both OO.o and MS Office and I'm glad I never have to touch OO.o again. Some software are necessities, MS Office being one.
    Reply
  • ruffopurititiwang
    Is it just me or did Microsoft make this video because it feels threatened by OpenOffice.org?
    Reply
  • cronik93
    Microsoft is disgusting.
    Reply
  • Microsoft Office can do so much that Open Office can't do. All of it useful to the businessmen. For practical home use, Microsoft Office is a waste of money in most cases.
    Reply
  • mwilliam12
    Of course this comes on the heels of Microsoft increasing their prices for Office 2010 from 4% to as much as 10% per license! 10s of thousands of dollars for a large company to buy volume licenses for their product. I can see why "free" is an attractive option.
    Reply
  • mwilliam12
    Source... http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-office-2010-enterprise-pricing-you-win-some-you-lose-some/6134
    Reply
  • bpislife
    For home users there is openoffice.org. For offices that is StarOffice - though now it is oracle open office. "If it breaks, who fixes it?" Oracle.

    Though I still love MS Office.
    Reply