If we look at OpenOffice.org, the three markets where the open source office suite is competing most successfully with Microsoft Office are probably Germany, France and Italy, followed by other European markets like Spain and the Netherlands. In Italy, where I have the updated numbers, we are hitting today - maybe while I’m writing this post - one million downloads since January 1st, 2008 (over 350.000 since the announcement of OOo 2.4 in late March). Although we don’t have Microsoft figures for Office 2007, we estimate a maximum of 1.8 million licenses sold in 2008.
I already know the reply: “You can’t compare licenses with downloads…”. Of course, gentlemen, but do you really think that one million downloads in slightly over one hundred days (at an average of over 9,200 downloads per day) still equals to a few thousands users? Do you really think that a small bunch of people, just the same small bunch of people, can get all these downloads? Come on, we’ve other stuff to do. Please, be realistic. We’re eating your pie, quickly. We’re hungry.
“Microsoft is permitted to shape the minds of our kids, essentially pre-recruiting (training) them as a workforce, all at the expense of foreign taxpayers.”A few hours ago we shared the story about the United Kingdom's public sector made a hostage of Microsoft. Some other countries will tell a similar story, but it's particularly painful for someone who lives here to see the UK choosing to lock itself in for Microsoft to control completely, at least in a digital sense.
Ian Lynch from the OSA (UK) identifies a similar set of problems and an entire article has just been published to highlight the severity of this matter which affects children, i.e. tomorrow's adult generation.
Microsoft is permitted to shape the minds of our kids, essentially pre-recruiting (training) them as a workforce, all at the expense of foreign taxpayers. In additional to the mental lock-in (as in skills, familiarity with particular users interfaces), there are also technical lock-ins such as OOXML. [via Glyn Moody, who says a lot more]
When Will They Ever Learn?
[...]
Schools are being prevented from enjoying a revolution in software provision, and self-sufficiency is being halted by the promotion of dependency, said Ian Lynch, spokesman for the Open Schools Alliance.
“Innovation starts with teachers and pupils, but under BSF the school’s IT strategy is taken out of its hands,” he said.
You might still recall NLnet for requesting that Microsoft relinquished control of its legacy binary formats, which are still seen largely as a trap to be replaced for marketing purposes. Their work was later cited to express WTO-tied concerns over the legitimacy of OOXML. NLnet is based on Holland, which is among the countries fastest to adopt OpenDocument format, despite Microsoft's sheer aggression there.
We ask you to recall the interoperability collaboration between OpenOffice.org developers and KOffice developers, as well as the myth that ODF is OpenOffice.org and the myth that ODF cannot work (there is plenty of new disinformation at the moment). Some of these myths get busted by the latest news from KDE, which ODF advocates are urged to read. KOffice presses on with ODF and it also receives important backing.
The Dutch NLnet foundation aims to financially support organisations and people that contribute to an open information society. Some time ago they decided to help KOffice in two exciting ways: to sponsor the design of a new logo for KOffice, with matching logo designs for all KOffice applications, and to sponsor Girish Ramakrishnan to improve the ODF support in KWord 2.0. The KOffice team is deeply grateful to NLnet for this support!