InformationWeek has a new article, “Sun Updates StarOffice; Touts Open Document Advantage Over Microsoft.” Before I mock Sun Microsystems, I should say that I do, in fact, like the idea of StarOffice (and the free variant, OpenOffice.org). It’s a full-fledged office suite that you can get for free (in the case of OpenOffice.org) or for very little money (StarOffice). That being said, you still get what you pay for. Microsoft Office is a categorically superior product in every way. It looks better, is faster and easier to use, has all sorts of special features for power users, integrates tightly with Windows and the programs within the suite, and is written in cleaner, more efficient code. It’s also rather expensive.
The newest version of StarOffice supports the Open Document Format. Massachusetts, in a capriciously bizarre and arbitrary decision, has decided that all state documents must, starting at a point in the not-do-distant future, be in ODF. This leads us to two quotes from the article:
“For most customers and in the short term, the biggest selling point to StarOffice 8 is the enhanced Microsoft Office compatibility,” said Herb Hinstorff, the director of marketing for Sun’s client systems group “People familiar with Office can load the program and go.”
In the longer-run, though, Sun’s betting on ODF to put StarOffice on the map, and steal market share from Microsoft. “Longer term, ODF will be crucial as more and more governments take a look at it,” Hinstorff said. “They don’t want their documents locked to a single program.
Let’s examine the second quote first. Are Microsoft Office documents “locked into a single program”? First of all, Office is not going away any time soon. Secondly, Microsoft provides a free reader program so that even if you don’t have Office, you can still view Office documents. Furthermore, let’s look at the first quote by Mr. Hinstorff. He’s not just talking about a vaguely similar visual style. StarOffice natively reads Office documents. So too do other competitor’s products. The so-called “open” format of ODF is currently available only in StarOffice, which has an insignificant market share.
I am wholly confident that people in 100 years will be able to read any Office documents I make, without resorting to extraordinary means. I am far less confident that the ODF will ever be so pervasive.