Great story – and great review – on LibreOffice a week ago in InfoWorld. But after reading it, I’m of the opinion that it misses the point.
LibreOffice 3.5: The best Office killer yet. Really? Let’s face it: the best Office killer is indeed the dawn of web applications, thus Office itself in a way.
The days of bloated, one size fits all, monolithic, device dependent, operating system dependent…(insert ‘Old School’ business descriptor here) software is definitly over. Spending time and energy to feed a dying race horse only the best oats is an exercise in futility. The web age brought that horse to water almost 365 days ago, summer 2011.
The future is about smaller, nimble, collaborative web and mobile apps that give users access to their data and the tools they need, when they need them and where they need them, on the device they like for the moment – regardless of any of the previous standards. No one wants to pay hundreds of dollars for these one-size-fits-all applications restricted to single, expensive, hard-to-manage device.
Microsoft has come to understand. With Office 365, they are beginning to change their course, but will always be restricted by their own cash-cows that dictate outmoded licensing models and OS dependencies. Even the technology at its core with all its legacy, will hinder its value.
Google understands, but frankly has not found an easy way to create a comfortable environment around their apps. We will need smooth round-trip editing with old Microsoft Office formats for a long time coming – in addition to the nimble web and mobile apps that I have been mentioning above.
No, my bet? It will be the open source community, with its core competency in the internet and value derived from modular architectures, that will eventually bridge the gap to this seamless vision of productivity.
So I call on LibreOffice – stop competing against a dying breed; it’s time to give the living something great.