OpenOffice.org Tries to Woo Dell

Rob writes "OpenOffice.org project members have written to Dell (pdf), hoping to persuade the company to adopt OpenOffice in response to customer demand. John McCreesh, OpenOffice.org marketing project lead, writes 'Let's have a conversation about how we could build an OpenOffice.org supplied by Dell product to give your customers what they are asking for.' Demand for open source products on Dell's IdeaStorm web site prompted the letter. A somewhat obvious question is raised: why isn't OpenOffice already available by default on new PC's and Workstations?"

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Re:And a somewhat obvious answer already exists

[mgpeter]

On top of that, it's still not 100% compatible with MS Office... I frequently have to slightly adjust things converting between OO's .odf and Office's .doc and have had some features of Excel spreadsheets not work in OO. That alone is going to make it unacceptable for use on projects for school or work which are then going to probably be used in MS Office.

Stop Using the Proprietary MS Formats - The vast majority of people complaining about OOo complain that it doesn't open MS Documents 100% Accurately. If you would simply start to use the default file format - ODF you won't have this problem.

At a local school we decided to have the teachers use OpenOffice.org, or if they wanted Microsoft Office - to have the teachers find the funding for it themselves. Most chose OpenOffice.org and the #1 complaint was that it did not open Word Documents 100% accurately - mostly drawings wouldn't show up correctly. Once everyone transitioned to use the ODF format - all complaints stopped, and once they started using OOo most found it better than MS Office - Especially once they learned how to utilize styles.

Re:Why?

[Kelz]

My theory is that Dell gets a lower OEM price on windows because they bundle MSW with their PCs (and what is MS works really besides a promotion to buy office?). It could be that any money they save by bundling Open Office may be lost because they stopped bundling MSW with Windows.

OpenOffice bundled on new PCs

[Yaddoshi]

The company I work for always adds OpenOffice to every new PC sold by default, because getting OEM Office drives the price up by almost $200 (and our price is already higher than Office Depot, Office Max, Best Buy and Walmart on comparable PCs of the main brands). I find, however, that people who are comfortable using MS Office don't like OpenOffice, just like people who are comfortable with Corel WordPerfect typically don't like MS Word. You like the program you are most familiar with, even if other programs do the same task better. Nobody likes having to learn to do the same thing in a different manner. I still tie my shoes the same way I taught myself to as a child, even though the normal way to tie one's shoes tends to keep them tied longer than my method.

With that in mind I find it highly amusing that MS Office 2007 requires a substantial learning curve before most users can become efficient with it. Nice job yet again, Microsoft. Justify the massive pricetag of your newest product that is nothing more than a minor upgrade with a facelift by including an interface overhaul.

I have customers that are still using MS Office 97, purchased almost ten years ago. Why? Because for them, it still works just fine.

Re:Why?

[danpsmith]

Also, Dell would have to distribute CDs with the source code since OpenOffice is GPL'd, etc, etc. None of it is a show-stopper, but why go through all the hassle with no reward? Distributing free software that they don't want to support (or don't think they can sell support on) doesn't make sense for Dell.

I'm actually kind of here to moderate, but, what about the reward of more customers? You know, I bet a lot of people aren't particularly happy that you don't get any real office software when you get your computer. I can imagine people having conversations such as the following taking place:

Person 1:Computers are such a rip-off, I just bought a new computer and now I have to buy office because my kids can't use what they gave us for schoolwork.

Person 2:I don't know, I bought my computer from Dell, we got office for free and it works pretty well.

People don't know the real difference between office packages. There's people who have used works for years until they run into incompatibility issues with others. People will use what is shipped. They don't have to pay Microsoft anything to ship a version of OpenOffice with their Dell, and they can advertise that they include a full office suite with their PC. Word gets around, it could become quite a little bonus for Dell. So to say there's no benefit is a little misleading.

Re:Why?

[shaitand]

MS Office is $200+ depending on what version you purchase and that is more than your average bear wants to pay to type letters. The business case for this is obvious but doesn't factor in to new school thinking.

The doesn't really help dell gain new customers directly. Adding OO is a cheap way to retain happy and loyal customers and generate positive word of mouth. Dell spends millions on marketing and advertising to gain new customers. Having a full featured office suite included with the system goes a long way toward the PC being a complete solution for many customers.

Re:Why?

[CrazedWalrus]

Any particular reason they can't just send them to the Open Office ftp site? If they just install the vanilla product, there's nothing to do. Source is available, and probably only patches done by Dell that aren't contributed upstream would have to be made available. Soooo.... where's the problem again?

Considering that Dell already ...

[Nom du Keyboard]

Considering that Dell already loads the latest version of MSOffice on their Dimensions even when you don't order it, and it takes up disc space and nags you to activate it in trial mode, or buy and put in your key, and causes update hassles with your older, legal version of MSOffice that you transfered from your old machine to you new one, hell yes, Dell could afford to include OO on the hard drive.