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So I have to ask...

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I saw this quote in the article IBM Lotus Workplace Challenges Microsoft Office

 

"IBM has great technology, and Lotus Workplace is a great product," Laura DiDio, senior analyst and software specialist at Yankee Group, told NewsFactor.

 

And being cynical as I am, couldn't help but wonder, do you think Laura has ever used Workplace or has just seen the slideware and flash demo?

 

I think headlines like that do IBM no favours, they have little to no hope of displacing Microsoft Office, and if Workplace is going to have it success judged by how much it displaces Office then I doubt it will ever be considered a success.  I still believe IBM had a great opportunity to attack Microsoft and it's bottom line a few years ago, when there was the opportunity to give a SmartSuite license away free with Notes.  The theory went that even if no one used the SmartSuite license, it could still be used by customers in their negotiations to try and get Microsoft to reduce their price for Office.  At the moment Microsoft is sitting back as they feel little threat, if that should change then watch out, Microsoft will kick into over drive and do whatever it takes to protect Office marketshare.  Been there, seen it, done it, and Lotus and even more so IBM were never up for the hard fight, and believe me I have the scars to prove it.

Overly cynical, pessimistic or just someone that has seen it all before?

Comments

Gravatar Image1 - Laura Didio has been pretty widely discredited due to her willfully inaccurate coverage of Linux in general and the SCO litigation in particular. I wouldn't give any weight to a thing she says. Generally she is very pro Microsoft (because they pay her to be so) so this is an interesting departure from her normal nonsense, however I have to agree that Workplace has little or nothing to do with Office as a competitor.

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