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Subject: RE: FLASH: OT Post (Star Office v MS Office)
From: David Giannetto
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 19:27:53 GMT

gents,
the money already spent to put MS-Office onto your systems
is a sunk cost, like all sunk costs, it should not affect the decisions
of the future.

the question is why does he want to switch? either what problems
does MS-Office currently present that requires a change, or, what
does Star offer that gives you capabilities beyond what you currently have?
fundamentally the issue is that simple. although they never seem
that simple.

and I'd place a hefty bet that the answers would be, no problems,
and no capabilities.

Dave


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vega, Eric [SMTP:VegaEDattvratings [dot] com]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 1:42 PM
> To: 'flasheratchinwag [dot] com'
> Subject: RE: FLASH: OT Post (Star Office v MS Office)
>
> Frederico,
> Thanx for you candor. I do appreciate the below arguments and even
> agree with most of them. Office defiantly has an inflated price. My
> concern (and I believe my VP's) is that of the 5,000 workstations we have,
> about 98% run office. We just dumped tons of cash into making sure we
> were
> compliant per Microsoft's license agreement. Now in the wake of all of
> that, to switch from Microsoft to Star Office would be tantamount to
> flushing all of that money. Not to mention the cost of the time involved
> to
> remove Office from all of those PC's to install a different one.
>
> I am not adverse to change, I just would hate to see upper management make
> a
> snap decision like this on the word of our CIO because he has been using
> it
> 'just fine' on his laptop for two months. Now if we investigate this
> thoroughly and performance & the obvious cost-effectiveness of it make
> sense
> then I'm all for it.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Frederico [batricoatuswest [dot] net (mailto:batricoatuswest [dot] net)]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 11:33 AM
> To: flasheratchinwag [dot] com
> Subject: RE: FLASH: OT Post (Star Office v MS Office)
>
>
> It doesn't seem as though you want any feedback that supports a
> transition away from the bloated, overpriced, over-powered MS Office,
> but, in case anyone else is listening, I'll make a few points.
>
> Choosing your office documentation management suite should be based on
> your needs, and that of your clients, not your peers.
>
> Do you accept numerous outside documents with such frequency that you
> must be able to read them in Word/Excel/PP/Outlook?
>
> If not, you likely need not be concerned with having more than one or two
> copies of MS Office on hand when such a translation is needed (and
> assuming Star Office fails on its promise to translate MSO docs without
> further assistance). Depending on the weight of your firm, you may also
> be able to dictate the format in which you will accept documents, too.
>
> Do you publish numerous documents to the outside world that must be
> readable by MS Office? Of the purported 95% of businesses allegedly using
> Office, I'd be amazed if any of them refused to also use the free Acrobat
> Reader, wherin you could better control formatting and appearance (and
> modifications) with PDFs (which can be generated from any application for
> =< $20 per station license).
>
> If all (or most) of your document creation and management is internal, or
> is printed for final users, why not choose an application that better
> meets your needs? From what I read between your lines, your CEO feels
> that cost is clearly an issue. Do you really produce documents in need of
> all the power-features of MS Office with such frequency that every
> workstation needs it? Do these documents generate such revenue as to
> justify the support costs of the most-costly suite flying?
>
> As a consultant myself, I see hundreds of offices that need little more
> than Notepad and an email client for 80% of their staff, yet they drop
> hundreds of dollars per station for tools they don't need.
>
> I'm not saying you should dump MS Office altogether, indeed, parts of it
> simply rock in terms of what it can do for those who need it; I would
> just suggest you evaluate the needs of each of your work stations; look
> more into the translation abilities of both suites (and others), and make
> an educated decision based on your overall needs; not one of simply
> staying in step with the rest of the world, merely for the sake of
> staying in step with the rest of the world.
>
> FWIW, I looked at some early version demos of Star Office, and for a
> young release, it has a lot going for it. Its interface makes a lot of
> sense for a lot of average users, thus you can safely presume a minimal
> retraining period. I think it will only get better with future versions,
> and the more who "buy" it, the more likely it will be improved upon.
>
> HTH
>
>
>
> Frederico
>
> ~If you don't face up to your problems,
> you get a big plastic cow in your room.~
>
> --Doug
>
> Win2000 -- for better or worse -- is on its way. . .
>
>
>
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