“Star Office has been around for years,” said Microsoft Office
product manager George Meng. “They’ve been giving it away and we’ve
sold 100 million licenses. I think that speaks for itself…”
“While the Star office software lacks the features of Office,
it’s getting passing marks from reviewers, who see it as acceptable
for all but “power users.” Indeed, one of the key worries and
sources of debate in the marketplace is whether it can fully share
documents from Microsoft Office, a sign that potential users may be
viewing it as an alternative…”
“There is an opportunity for someone to displace Microsoft,”
said Rob Enderle of Giga Information Systems, an industry
consultant. “I would argue that it (the threat) is as strong as
when IBM went into its decline. Microsoft is dealing with one of
the highest levels of customer dissatisfaction of any company that
we follow.“
“Microsoft users have come to view Office upgrades as “a tax,”
that users need to pay, and “the (perceived) value has gotten
disconnected from the revenue.”