It’s not (just) about about file formats
Regarding the presumed forthcoming Google Office, Ken Fisher makes the following argument:
- free and open source productivity suite have been a failure; witness OpenOffice
- Microsoft’s monopoly is a function of its file formats
- Google is not investing in OOo because of this, and is instead investing in a web-based approach whose prime advantage is its OpenDocument file format
- success in the future = the company that best exploits ODF
I think all of this is only half-true.
First, the problem with OOo is organizational. It is an open source effort that is not fully open. It is like Mozilla before AOL spun it off; benefitting from the support of its sponsor, but also stifled by it. The reason why OOo is not more successful is because, quite frankly, it’s neither good enough, nor is there the organizational structure to encourage investment, both of cash from large corporations, and time by developers. My guess is that this is why you see IBM and Google going their own way. It’s a rather pathetic state of affairs when Microsoft will end up implementing the vision of the OpenOffice bibliographic project (of which I am co-project lead) before OOo!
So those that are thinking that ODF will save the day are deluding themselves. Open standards are important, even critical, but they are no magic bullet. And Microsoft’s ECMA submission fundamentally changes the game here, and I have every belief that ISO will also approve it.
What will save the day is for companies and free software communities to produce better software. I’m frankly skeptical this is coming any time soon, as every single would-be Office competitor I have seen—from OOo to Writely—seems to be chasing MS’s taillights. Nowhere do I see people rethinking what productivity should be in the 21st century. MS has excelled by always being just good enough, and they’re continuing that even while giving up their file format lock-in.
What I’d really like to see is for Sun to spin-off OOo, and announce—along with IBM, Google and Novell—a large infusion of cash for the independent organization. I’d like to see that organization in turn work closely with Mozilla, first to figure out what they did right, and second how to transition advanced ODF-based productivity to the web.
As for Google Office: it won’t be enough, Google, to just put the same boring productivity applications we’ve seen for the past two decades on the web.
