Chris Dawson at ZDNet had a recent post on the thought that he might switch his users over to Google Apps. His basic question was: Is there anything teachers or students need that Google Apps can’t do? I think a better question would be: Is there anything we do that is too complicated for Google Apps or Open Office or Star Office?
I am a member of the camp that thinks the majority of us can easily replicate our current functions and daily activities inside a number of free offerings available today that have longevity, maturity and good support. The real obstacle in many organizations is resistance to change and a desire to stay in a current comfort zone. Granted this is an oversimplification, but in many cases it is very true.
At the core, I don't really think that the average user uses any advanced features in the M$FT Office Suite. And at the end of the day, we could all stand to be without whiz bang PPT slide shows with the latest SmartArt features and animations. So as I evangelize open source in my organization and to my clients, I ask them to explain to me what they do that is so complicated? Often times, they simply can't answer as they haven't really thought about it.
TCO is an important point that people always talk about it. Paul Murphy (pseudonym) had a post today about recession favoring open source and gave an example business case of TCO savings. It has some very good points in it about how small business might be more willing to look to open source as all costs have to be examined.
So, how complicated are your Office documents?
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