| IBM puts programming power behind OpenOffice |
Sep. 10, 2007
 IBM joined OpenOffice.org on Sept.10, and the company is bringing its programming muscle with it to improve the popular open-source office suite.
While IBM has long used OpenOffice.org code, licensed under the LGPL (Lesser GPL), in its own programs, such as the groupware program Lotus Notes 8, this has been IBM's own fork of the code. Starting now, IBM is directing its OpenOffice development efforts--involving about three dozen programmers--to the public, open-source OpenOffice suite.
IBM's initial code contributions will come from its work on the Lotus Notes product. At this time, we know one major improvement will be in the area of accessibility enhancements. The next major update of OpenOffice.org will include the iAccessible2 accessibility tool. The developers will also be making ongoing contributions to the feature richness and code quality of OpenOffice.org. In return, IBM will be integrating even more OpenOffice.org technology into its own products.
Sun Microsystems, over the years more often an enemy than an ally of IBM, is welcoming IBM's joining it in OpenOffice.org. "In the seven years since Sun founded the project, OpenOffice.org has fueled and filled the need for document data and productivity tools that are open and free. We look forward to working with IBM and the other members of OpenOffice.org to ensure that this momentum continues. We invite others to join us in the community and participate in building the future as OpenOffice.org and ODF (Open Document Format) continue to gain popularity across the planet," Rich Green, executive vice president of software for Sun, headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., said in a statement.
ODF, and its ongoing war with Microsoft's disputed Open XML "standard" for the hearts and minds of office applications users, are among the reasons why IBM, based in Armonk, N.Y., is throwing its support behind OpenOffice, according to Doug Heintzman, director of strategy for IBM's Lotus collaboration division. IBM's decision was to help "make sure there is a public code base that implements this spec [ODF], so it can attract a critical mass to build a new office value propositions."
In a statement, Mike Rhodin, general manager of IBM's Lotus division, agreed. "We're particularly pleased to be teaming with the community to accelerate the rate of innovation in the office productivity marketplace. We believe that this relationship will improve our ability to deliver innovative value to users of IBM products and services. We also believe that the collaboration will lead to an even broader range of ODF-supporting applications (ISO 26300) and solutions that draw from the OpenOffice.org technology," Rhodin said.
John McCreesh, OpenOffice.org's marketing project lead, also agreed with this point. "We welcome IBM's contributions to further enhancing the OpenOffice.org product. But equally important is IBM's future commitment to package and distribute new works that leverage OpenOffice.org technology supporting the ISO ODF standard. ODF is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the IT industry to unify round a standard, and deliver lasting benefit to users of desktop technology."
Linux distributors can see the standard win here as well. Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, said in a statement, "We are excited about IBM joining Sun and other contributors to the OpenOffice.org community in pushing development of OpenOffice.org and the Open Document Format. We are firmly committed to help set, drive and promote open standards like the ODF world-wide to free all users from any dependency on single vendors and proprietary software. The OpenOffice.org community is showing that it is possible for large, competing companies to collaborate and deliver extraordinary value to all of their users."
Thus, while there can be no doubt that IBM investing in OpenOffice.org will improve the program considerably before its next major release in the fall of 2008, the real point of this move is to give ODF more support in the marketplace. This point isn't lost on standards expert and attorney Andrew Updegrove.
Updegrove, a partner with Gesmer Updegrove, a Boston law firm that specializes in technology, said, "In what many will see as a long-overdue move, OpenOffice.org announced today that IBM will become an active supporter of, and contributor to, OpenOffice, the leading ODF-compliant competitor to Microsoft Office. The question that many will be asking is this: What took so long?"
His answer: "Most likely, the setback for OOXML in ISO/IEC JTC1 and Google's announcement a month ago that it would include StarOffice 8 in its free Google Pack download figure into IBM's decision. Those events help provide the type of public momentum that, like the original Massachusetts announcement, offers the prospect for the type of greater rewards that help displace other considerations and historical impediments."
After all, Updegrove continued, "Whatever the reasons may have been that have kept Sun and IBM from working together to support OpenOffice over the past four years more fully, the reality is that a chance to break an industry monopoly that generates $15-billion in revenues a year comes only once in a generation--when it comes at all. This is no time for either vendor to let the differences of the past prevent them from seizing the historic opportunities of the future."
—Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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