Intel distributes LibreOffice, can Microsoft be pleased?
Summary: Intel is now offering the open-source office suite LibreOffice on its application store, Intel AppUp, for Windows users. I wonder what Microsoft thinks about this...
Intel supports LibreOffice, can Microsoft be pleased?
LibreOffice, the OpenOffice fork, is a very popular open-source office suite. But, while it has great support from Linux distributors, like openSUSE and Ubuntu, LibreOffice has never had a major corporate backer on the Windows side... until now. Intel is now offering LibreOffice to Windows users via its AppUp application store. I wonder how Microsoft feels about this.
According to The Document Foundation (TDF), the newly incorporated group behind LibreOffice, "LibreOffice for Windows from SUSE is available in Intel AppUp Center as a special, five-language version featuring English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. As a validated Intel AppUp Center app, LibreOffice for Windows from SUSE features a new, smooth, silent installation flow and improved un-installation cleanup." This version of LibreOffice for Windows is now available from the Intel AppUp store.
Of course, LibreOffice has long been available on Windows, as well as Linux and Mac OS X. What's different about this is that Intel, Microsoft's long time ally, is now actively supporting Microsoft Office's most active rival. Certainly, on the cloud, Google Docs is Office's biggest enemy but on the good old PC desktop, LibreOffice is Microsoft's Office main competition.
Nor, is Intel just enabling LibreOffice to be downloaded from its site. No, Intel is actively working on improving the LibreOffice code base. In a statement, Dawn Foster, open source community lead, at Intel said, "I have been using LibreOffice from day one for presentations at conferences and for data analysis. Our engineers have worked with the LibreOffice codebase to optimize it for Intel hardware. Adding it to the AppUp Center is an obvious extension, and will provide an exciting feature for all Ultrabook users."
Intel has also joined The Document Foundation. That means Intel is also financially supporting this rival to Microsoft Office.
Needless to say TDF is happy. "We are thrilled to add Intel to our existing roster of supporters", said Florian Effenberger, a TDF board member in a statement, "TDF is first and foremost a vendor neutral project committed to excellence in the office suite space, but we greatly value the support and advice we gain from organizations such as SUSE, Red Hat, Google, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Software in the Public Interest (SPI)."
Curiously enough, SUSE, a Linux company, with long-time ties to Microsoft, took the technical lead in delivering this Windows version of LibreOffice.
I, for one, find it very interesting that two Microsoft allies, Intel and SUSE, are promoting a program that's targeted straight at Microsoft's cash cow: Microsoft Office. Perhaps Intel feels slighted as Microsoft puts its attention on Windows 8 on ARM? Might it be that Intel wants users getting exciting about Windows 7-powerd Ultrabooks instead of Windows 8 ARM-powered tablets? Maybe SUSE, which used to partner closely with Microsoft on Linux and Windows network integration, feels neglected? I don't know. I do know Microsoft can't be happy.
Related Stories:
Document Foundation gets corporate "Inc" status
IBM to close down Symphony, its OpenOffice fork
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Talkback
RE: Intel distributes LibreOffice, can Microsoft be pleased?
PS. M$ has no more bite.
RE: Intel distributes LibreOffice, can Microsoft be pleased?
add Oracle with its 'Open office' to the lame software.
Open Office
Trading down
errrr
ummm
Yep, you noticed it too. Open Source has taken over.
There's more rootkits out there now, just in time for the party.
http://pr.efytimes.com/e1/79580/ESET-Detected-New-Version-Of-WinRovnix-rootkit
The Microsoft business model implodes on itself.
MS ports to ARM
Two (former and at times law breaking) co-conspirators are finally starting to claw each others eyes out.
How sad (Sarcasm)
RE: Intel distributes LibreOffice, can Microsoft be pleased?
Nice. Well, while the old world order was MS and Intel, you can take comfort that Google is selling your soul for a buck, and Apple is locking customers in so efficiently that IBM execs from the 60's look like amateurs.
Progress. How sad. (No sarcasm).
Good for Intel.
RE: Intel distributes LibreOffice, can Microsoft be pleased?
RE: Intel distributes LibreOffice, can Microsoft be pleased?
There are many companies that thought they would never go out of business....
Here's one you probably know - General Motors. Almost went tits up a couple years ago....
And yet there are many companies
that people thought would go ou of business:
Does the name Apple ring a bell?
Apple is the most valuable company in the world
You will be better off
the majority of the world will not be.
It is too bad you will never know happiness, as Microsoft will not go "tits-up" any time soon.
LOL IdioutGuy10 you are still funny little dude
GM? Different situation entirely, completely and totally.
First of all, in case you missed it, GM is a company involved in heavy manufacturing. MS is not. At all. In fact there are huge differences between obstacles faced in a company involved in heavy manufacturing and a software company. Perhaps not as much difference as between running a farm and running a professional sports team but getting close.
Secondly, I don't know if you missed it, but you might have noticed the headlines popping up over the last few decades how the unions involved in North American auto manufacturing were often wringing every last dime out of labor negotiations. The wages earned by many average auto workers were the serious envy of many around the North American continent who needed a great paying job and didnt want to spend thousands of dollars and several years in school to get it. Between benefits and overtime even the poorly informed around North America knew in their heart of hearts that the North American automotive industry was paying their relatively uneducated line workers huge amounts of money that were unobtainable in just about any other industry with the same education level. We all knew, or should have known it couldnt keep going forever. Sooner or later something would break, and it did.
Thirdly, and most importantly, GM had competition of the most serious kind. Not just North American competition, but Japanese competition, German competition, Korean competition and even some others. Powerhouse competition that was more then ready to choke GM out, given any chance at all.
The two situations were not simply immensely different, they are noticeably different and the writing of GMs potential woes were clear obvious and written on the wall for ages if anything went wrong. And it did.
Don???t try making it sound like just because GM almost went under that the same could hold true for MS at anytime in the near future because one situation has less than zero to do with the other. In fact the situations are so different the facts actually indicate the opposite.
Good for Intel.
RE: Intel distributes LibreOffice, can Microsoft be pleased?
From the great know-it-all (or thinks he is...)
Still trolling from the basement I see.
I have never had any issues with ANY MS Office documents with LibreOffice. In fact, MS Office can't open any corrupted office file, but I can use LibreOffice to open them and resave them fixed! Now why is that???
You are just not worth spending any more effort to always prove that you are wrong. Keep trying though, probabilities are that just by chance, you just might get something right.