Invasion of the Peguin snatchers.

LoopyByteloose

I don't think it is any secret that MS Office is the big money maker behind MS these days, or that Windows 8 is being pretty much ignored.

But would you believe a world where MS actually migrates to Linux? It is also commonly recognized that the biggest reason that business remain loyal to Windows is that they depend on the compatibility of MS Excel spreadsheets to survive. Linux has Libre Office that is quite good, but still business are afraid to be seen as incompatible with their customers and suppliers.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Office-Linux-Release-Rumors-Larabel,20956.html

Heater.

So what you are saying is that MS has realized that nobody needs their OS anymore and that they have to move their money maker, Office, to some other OS.

Given that we live in a web centric world now a days how long will it take for everyone to realize that they don't need Office anymore either?

This has been a puzzle to me for a long time. Word processors were born in the era of laser printers and desktop publishing. That world has gone by.

Now, we need web pages. And there are many ways to do that.

Then there is Excel. Perhaps eventually users will learn that whatever they can do with spreadsheet macros is better done in Python or some such.

rod1963

It's always been about applications. That's why Linux couldn't make a dent in the front office and was relegated to the basement. It took them a long time to get anything remotely equal to Office.

Still I don't see MS moving Office to Linux. It would be a disaster for them. Linux users hate M$ with a passion and don't like paying for anything. That demographic is worthless to M$.

Heater.

rod1963,

Linux users hate M$ with a passion and don't like paying for anything.

This Linux user does not hate any company with a passion. Such companies are out to turn a profit, as are we all.

That idea of "...don't like paying for anything" is really not the point. This argument has been hashed out on the net for two decades now. I am surprised you have missed it.

My beef with the MS centric world is that it makes no sense to me for the entire computing infrastructure of the world to be dependent on a single supplier. A supplier over which most have no influence and for most is in a foriegn country.

Yes, the Linux demographic is worthless to MS. However it will eat their lunch eventually and I can see that an Office for Linix will come at some point. It will not help them, as you say.

By the way, since when has Linux been in the basement?. It's in my pocket, it's in my routers, it's in Google, it's in most super computers...

Eeek, now I have been suckered. This is not even about Linux. Linux is not an operating system. It's only a kernel. "them" whoever it is trying to make an Office replacement is not necessarily anything to do with "them" who are making a kernel or "them" who are making an OS.

It's about the human race creating software for itself. Which it is quite capable of doing.

kwinn

Heater. wrote: »

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Yes, the Linux demographic is worthless to MS. However it will eat their lunch eventually and I can see that an Office for Linix will come at some point. It will not help them, as you say.

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Hey, I thought Open Office ran on Linux. I have been using it on my Windows laptop for several years and it does everything I need including saving files in MS Office formats when necessary. I also see versions of it for several flavors of Linux, and in many languages.

kwinn

Heater. wrote: »

............

Yes, the Linux demographic is worthless to MS. However it will eat their lunch eventually and I can see that an Office for Linix will come at some point. It will not help them, as you say.

...........

Hey, I thought Open Office ran on Linux. I have been using it on my Windows laptop for several years and it does everything I need including saving files in MS Office formats when necessary. I also see versions of it for several flavors of Linux, and in many languages.

LoopyByteloose

kwinn wrote: »

Hey, I thought Open Office ran on Linux. I have been using it on my Windows laptop for several years and it does everything I need including saving files in MS Office formats when necessary. I also see versions of it for several flavors of Linux, and in many languages.

Open Office does run on Linux, Windows, and Apple OSes. But since Sun was purchased by Oracle, Open Office has had an offshoot called Libre Office.

The truth is that most of the business users of computers in the world are functioning at a somewhat low level of sophistication and feel intimidated to shift away from Windows Office.

The compatiblity issues are not so great in the word processing side of Windows Office. It is the Excel spreadsheet that often does the accounting for the small enterprise and there are some enormous fears that changing to another spreadsheet program would require a huge amount of retooling the accounting for a company.

I am also surprised by how much is done in Visual Basic in Taiwan.

The problems here are that nobody really reads the manuals, even with good Chinese translations. They depend on being mentored by someone that knows the existing system. So a new system in Libre Office has a huge barrier to overcome. Free and well-documented are not enough, you have to have a user base in the target language.

It seems the vast majority of users have no real appreciation of a good OS and they are merely focused on the applicaitions that make it easier to earn a living.

I must say that the indication of this is that not only is the MS OS model inferior (which I feel is very true), but that MS may not need that nasty Registry to properly control the licensing of software. That would be another nail in the coffin of the Windows OS dynastry.