[instead of firing you workforce and pairing down benefits and perks when times get rough revenue-wise, how about taking a look at that free Office suite?]
In my experience, that's not how it works. When making cuts you look for big-chunk expenses and savings of $100/employee when the average employee costs you $70K/year is not one. They'd be more likely to delay an upgrade than to switch to something cheaper and less powerful.
Someone else said people would get used to StarOffice at home and bring it into the workplace. Again, that's not my experience. People tend to bring home what they use at work far more than the other way around.
StarOffice is not much of a threat in my view. I agree with the previous poster who said Office is a more dominant force than Windows. It's really a nice package and I think customers are and will continue to be willing to pay for it. I fully expect some blowout Office numbers in the next FY.
BTW, I really enjoy watching McNealy jockey around trying to find a trick to bring down MSFT. "Yeah, Java, yeah, that's it...no, wait, we'll get the Judiciary committee to harass them, yeah, yeah...no wait, I've got it...free office software! Hehe, boy, we got 'em now." In your dreams, pal. Get ready 'cause they're coming to eat your lunch. |
