Office opens its doors
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Previously an enemy of free-to-use programs, the decision to develop open software for Office 2007 has shocked users
Microsoft? Paying to develop open source software so Office 2007 can hook up with the standardised Open Document format (ODF)? With its reputation? As hard as that might be to believe, last week the world's biggest software firm did just that (http://tinyurl.com/huxfb).
Microsoft is often seen as an enemy of free-to-use-and-adapt open-source software. In 1976, the general partner of a recently formed firm called Micro-Soft (sic) - Bill Gates - wrote An Open Letter to Hobbyists saying that free sharing of programs was in fact theft which would prevent good software from being written. Over the following three decades, the firm has stuck to proprietary software - paid-for programs where the source code is hidden or closed from users.
Previously an enemy of free-to-use programs, the decision to develop open software for Office 2007 has shocked users
Microsoft? Paying to develop open source software so Office 2007 can hook up with the standardised Open Document format (ODF)? With its reputation? As hard as that might be to believe, last week the world's biggest software firm did just that (http://tinyurl.com/huxfb).
Microsoft is often seen as an enemy of free-to-use-and-adapt open-source software. In 1976, the general partner of a recently formed firm called Micro-Soft (sic) - Bill Gates - wrote An Open Letter to Hobbyists saying that free sharing of programs was in fact theft which would prevent good software from being written. Over the following three decades, the firm has stuck to proprietary software - paid-for programs where the source code is hidden or closed from users.
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