IBM takes on Microsoft with free office software

by Brad Linder Sep 18th 2007

A week after IBM announced that it would join the OpenOffice.org developer community, the company has launched its own standalone office application suite. Like OpenOffice.org, IBM Lotus Symphony includes a word processor, spreadsheet application, and presentation software. That shouldn't be surprising, as the software was developed using technology from the open source OpenOffice.org.

Lotus Symphony, which is currently in beta is available as a free download. This strikes yet another blow to Microsoft Office's dominance on the office space. Not only are Excel, Word, and PowerPoint facing competition from downloadable programs like OpenOffice.org and Lotus Symphony, but there's increasing pressure from online software like Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Zoho.

Update: After playing with Lotus Symphony for a few minutes, here's what we can tell you. It loads a bit slower than OpenOffice.org, but has a very attractive user interface. There's a tabbed view that lets you open multiple documents without opening multiple instances of the application, which we like. As with any new application, it takes a few moments to acclimate yourself with the toolbars and menus, but overall Lotus Symphony is powerful and pretty intuitive for anyone who's ever used Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.org.

[via The New York Times]

Tags: ibm-lotus-symphony, lotus-symphony, ms-office

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kevin Hillabolt said 11:55AM on 9-18-2007

Too bad they make you login/join to download the installer.

When will companies learn. Forcing people to sign-up is a barrier, to getting their software distributed to the masses.

We have all learned how shameless companies are with sharing e-mail addresses.

Ivan said 11:55AM on 9-18-2007

Don't they actually have to make an impact before they can be labeled as "a blow" Microsoft? I can see it now, the mad rush as Corporate IT departments switch over to LotusOffice.Org ....

That's like Kanye calling himself great ...

Jason said 1:40PM on 9-18-2007

What do you people at Download Squad have against Microsoft? Just because someone release an inferior FREE product its a "BLOW" to MS Office?

Also... I don't see where the competition is from someone like Google... Google Apps doesn't even come close to compairing to Office... it doesn't have a fraction of the features of Office... free or not your not going to have a mass migration of users from THE desktop office application to some shotty free web based office apps...

Stop applying "geek thought" to the masses... people don't think like geeks...

Seraphim said 1:45PM on 9-18-2007

Does it open .docx?

Brad Linder said 1:45PM on 9-18-2007

Jason: My thoughts exactly. The masses don't think like geeks. They don't need a super-powerful word processor or spreadsheet application. They need a program that will let them type business letters and send messages to their grandmother.

When I say killer, I don't mean that these applications will do everything that Microsoft Office does. Wheat I mean is that as casual users see more and more alternatives to Microsoft Office that are able to meet most of their daily needs, they'll think twice about spending $150+ on MS Office.

What I would love is to see Microsoft offer a slimmed down version of Office that's either free or more affordable, and focus on selling premium versions of their software to power users and business customers. Releasing an ad-supported version of MS Works is a step in the right direction, but until it includes compatibility with Office document formats it's just a small step.

JS said 2:46PM on 9-18-2007

Have downloaded it - max speed 76 kbs, so quite a slow download. Still unable to install - "missing file" - which appears to be there ?? No obvious installation instructions. No obvious contact e-mail/ forum. I think that an IBM free release like this will attract massive interest - but they have to package it and handle the install / support logistics much better, to sustain that interest.

gojeda said 5:12PM on 9-18-2007

"3. What do you people at Download Squad have against Microsoft? Just because someone release an inferior FREE product its a "BLOW" to MS Office?"

It is called just the latest manifestation of Downloadsquad's consistent anti-MS bias. Unfortunately, this time around, Linder's remark's go beyond mere bias and into the realm of misinformation that you so kindly pointed out above.

Striking a blow! Now that's funny.

"What I would love is to see Microsoft offer a slimmed down version of Office that's either free or more affordable, and focus on selling premium versions of their software to power users and business customers."

I would also like Bentley to reduce the price of their Continental GT to under $30,000 as to make it affordable. However, they charge the prices because they can. Microsoft can charge the prices they can because they make the best office software products.

That being said, you would have to define "affordable".

Even so, there are several Office offerings out there that do not cost an arm-and-a-leg:

1. If you are a currently a college student, you can get Office Ultimate for $60.

2. MS Works database to Access database: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q197894

3. MS Works and Office Compatibility:
http://www.microsoft.com/products/works/more/worktogether.mspx

thiel said 7:56PM on 9-18-2007

I'm glad it's better looking. One of the worst things about OO is it's damn UGLY.

hazard said 11:00PM on 9-18-2007

it's going to be hard for any other Office Suite to crack the Enterprise market (where the big bucks are) as most organisations that use MS Office have developed tech specific those applications and formats. So the savings made through using free software would be more than offset by the costs of redevelopment, retraining, documentation etc ..

CoffeeDaze said 10:24AM on 9-19-2007

Wow, the registration is a pain and now the download won't initiate due to some proxy error on their end. What a horrible way to offer software to a user.

S Dreams said 10:37AM on 9-19-2007

Lol, I just noticed that its 133.7 MB file, I think that wins me over. But yeah, I think MS has the market right now with Office 2007, especially for students going into fields that require more math. The biggest feature in Word 2007 is the equation editor, it's so much friendlier than anything else I've used. Still can't beleive the Student & Home edition runs for 120$, pretty outrageous. I wish I could get the 60$ Ultimate edition.

LordDaMan said 11:41AM on 9-19-2007

Anyone check out the system requirments? You need a miniunum of 1 gig of ram for this. Is that rather insane requiremnts for an office suite? We need a gig of ram for a word processor? Openoffice, which this is based on, runs on 128 megs of ram.

Jose said 3:40PM on 9-19-2007

Hey DS, too bad you didn't pay homage to the original Symphony which made up one of the first office program suites out there! The original software was made by Lotus and performed a good job back in the day!

Adolfo said 5:30AM on 11-15-2007

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