Microsoft to Share Office Code

By Jim on September 21st, 2004

Hmmm…too little, too late if you ask me. :roll: More evidence of the powerful effect that Linux (and Open Source in general) are having on Microsoft.

Microsoft Corp. said on Sunday that it would share the underlying software code for its Office program as part of its efforts to make governments more confident in the security and compatibility of the world’s largest software maker’s products.

The new initiative is an extension of Microsoft’s Government Security Program, which allows the governments of more than 30 countries to examine most of Microsoft’s underlying source code, or software blueprint for its flagship Windows operating system.

The source code for Office 2003 will be made available so that governments can conduct in-depth testing and examination to make sure that the document, spreadsheet, presentation and scheduling program works with other information technology systems, Microsoft said.

If I were a government, I’d still be moving toward OpenOffice and away from MS Office whenever possible. Obviously, in certain situations this might not be immediately possible. Some situations require certain elements in MS Office that OpenOffice doesn’t yet provide.

But for average desktop users why stick with expensive, proprietary software when there’s something available that’s free and open source that provides many of the same feature sets that most people actually use each day?