[LUG] MSO, OOo and the executable metaphor

Adrian Midgley wrote:
> Ben Goodger wrote:
>
>> Guhh? OOo is a replacement for MSO.
>>
>>
> Microsoft do office software as well?
>
> Is it in Debian Stable yet?
>
>
>
OOo is a wonderful bark up the wrong tree, in the wrong forest!
Replacing MSoffice with another office just reinforces the idea that
MSOffice is useful. It may be useful to FLOSS in making people aware of
open source software but it doesn't actually solve any of the real
problems associated with it.
If 1/100 the effort spent on OOo had been spent on making a web based
office - see http://www.fckeditor.net/
for your document editor, a whole host of web based spreadsheets,
<panel> for graphics editing and few tools for doing project planning
and html/svga. Email front ends....
Imagine all that working through your browser with data stored on the
web server (farm)?
>From a company/organisation point of view: No updating every PC in
your organisation, no need to worry about laptops going missing. Being
in full control of your companies data without having to manage
thousands of PC's and servers.
For at least 15 years microsoft have managed to sell Office to people,
and operating systems to run office, and servers to help manage all of
the above when all you needed was a web connection and/or web server , a
db and a browser.
Google have at last cottoned on to part of this with their online
spreadsheet
< https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=wise&passive=true&nui=1&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fspreadsheets.google.com%2Fccc%3Fnew>
but for the last fifteen years or so most people have been following the
pied piper, and paying him handsomely!
Tom te tom te tom.

This is precisely what will destroy Office 12 - people will think "ugh, new" and switch to OOo rather than lose their current convolution.
Web-based systems may be superior, but "office 97, office 2000, office xp, office 2003" is far more likely to lead to "office 2007" than "new web-based thingy, not approved by our Imperial masters".

Google Spreadsheets runs like a pig for me, I have never been able to work out why (of course, it runs fine in Windows.)