[ Thanks to Mayank
for this link. ]
“If Microsoft really decides to come out with Office for Linux,
it will be the best thing to happen to Linux since the Operating
System has been in existence. It isn’t that there aren’t other
office suites for Linux. Or that I’m a Microsoft fan! It’s more of
a perception issue that users have which needs to be tackled.”
“Many people interested in trying out Linux often want to know
if their favorite application runs on Linux. The most popular
applications are Word and Excel, since they’ve become the de facto
Office suites under Windows. People are more interested in knowing
if these would run under Linux. They often ask, ‘Does Microsoft
Office run on Linux?’ Most Windows users don’t really go around
fiddling with the operating system, but use it only to run the
application. They aren’t as interested in learning, or using, the
underlying OS. They’re happy as long as their favorite application
runs! If Microsoft Office does run on Linux, it would probably
compel these users to switch to Linux.”
“Does Microsoft have enough reasons to support an alternative
platform? Since the time Microsoft released Office for the
Macintosh, it has now become the de facto Office suite on the Mac
platform. It also generates a great deal of revenue for Microsoft.
It makes good sense for them to support Linux also because Linux is
the fastest-growing OS and is already making inroads into the
desktop segment.”