4 ms·
No way! Look at the Office 2007 transition. They fundamentally changed the UI, broke alot of (poorly conceived and implemented) customer-implemented applicatio
by Duff 15y ago
No way!
Look at the Office 2007 transition. They fundamentally changed the UI, broke alot of (poorly conceived and implemented) customer-implemented applications and changed the file format. They were in many respects new applications.
I worked for a very large organization that very strongly considered a major embrace of OpenOffice. The lawyers loved it, ODF scratched number of political itches, and Microsoft Office spend is incredible. User preference is weak when you're converting a $10,000,000 annual Office subcription spend into $500k of support staff expenses.
Problem was, when the time for talking ended and testing began, the application was universally reviled. The problem wasn't that users didn't like the apps, but they couldn't get things done.
- Tyrannosaurs 15y agoOffice 2007 was a pretty specific case where MS gave people an opportunity. The UI hasn't changed that much since Office for Windows arrived and it won't be repeated for at least a decade, probably more. As an aside, the interesting thing is once people get their heads round the UI they pretty much universally like it, it's just the instant reaction that's so bad.
- Duff 15y agoThat's my point -- you can change stuff and people will deal with it, as long as it's better. Take an extended tour of OpenOffice for an afternoon, then use Office 2010 for a few minutes. It's no contest.
- Tyrannosaurs 15y agoI did try OpenOffice for a month (pre-Office 20070 and you're right, it's horrible. But even if it was functionally equivalent there are still reasons Office wins - because it's safe and because it's the defacto standard. Even the cost isn't that big a deal for companies because they get security in exchange and that's one of the things big companies value above all else.