After a decade, OpenOffice is a blip on Microsoft???s screen.
If so, the radar is broken. Seven to twenty percent penetration should have their attention. Waiting until it hits fifty would be stupid. They're not stupid.
Want proof? DIS-29500 is a panic reaction to the strategic threat.
Don't be misled by "market share," since that's a dollar amount, which obviously weights in favor of the most expensive product on the market.
It could take another decade for IBM to make inroads with Symphony, especially given it doesn???t have a cloud-based version yet.
IBM plans in the long term. Microsoft is like the Black Hole of IT: margin gets sucked into the Redmond event horizon never to return. IBM has watched it happen from the beginning, and knows what the ultimate outcome will be if they don't take preventive steps.
The issue isn't whether this will ultimately turn into a major revenue source for IBM; it's whether it will make a net contribution to the bottom line. That contribution may well be due to preserving IBM Global Services' existing business from being eaten by MS-only initiatives run directly from Redmond.
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