John: Microsoft does not publish its file formats, and changes them regularly between versions of MS-Office. (And) OpenOffice.org 1 was well-known for its ability to open corrupt MS-Office files which MS-Office itself couldn't open! OpenOffice.org 2 now supports obscure features of MS-Office which the vast majority of users don't even know exist. We are confident that MS-Office users will experience fewer issues migrating to OpenOffice.org 2 than they would face upgrading to a new version of MS-Office.

EOS: Besides interoperability and native OS support across the board, why should someone use OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office? How do the word processor and spreadsheet programs, for example, improve on what users get with Redmond's products?

John: The 80:20 rule for office suites states that 80% of users only use 20% of the functionality of a product. For these users, swapping to OpenOffice.org 2 means that they can just carry on working as now with minimal disruption. Staying with MS-Office means they will eventually be forced to an upgrade to new MS-Office versions at a migration cost independently estimated as ten times as expensive as changing to OpenOffice.org 2. Migrating now also means users benefit immediately from the legendary stability of OpenOffice.org, and its freedom from the viruses which target MS-Office users.

EOS: As a North American-based reproter, I may be a little too narrowly focused at times, and I see that OO is available in 36 languages. You don't need to list all 36, but how do you see distribution shaping up around the world? What percentage of users will be in North America versus the rest of the world?

John: OpenOffice.org 2 is now the product of choice for people selecting an office productivity suite. It does everything users want from MS-Office without the licence hassles; it's compatible with legacy MS-Office file formats; and its support of OpenDocument means the acquisition decision is futureproofed. We see the most dramatic growth in usage in emerging
markets such as Asia and the Far East where this software selection is being made by millions of new users, with a slower uptake in mature markets where people already have licenced copies of MS-Office. By 2010, the number of PCs in use worldwide is forecast at over 1,000 million, by which time we are aiming for over 40% market share.

Louis Suarez-Potts: I think I would add to John's reply that usage depends ultimately on identity: who is using it. The example I use is usually that of WalMart. It started using RFID to trace objects, and what's more, has implicitly required its providers to also use it.

So, let's imagine that the Chinese or Indian governments, or the European Union demand that all tax, government, and official documents be in OpenDocument format, as that format resists the erosions of time and the vagaries of the market, to which any proprietary format is vulnerable. Any business wanting to trade with these entities or in those countries,  will thus logically start using the OpenDocument format, either because they must or because it saves time and money, in the end.  And given that the U.S's and Canada's and Mexico's trade with China is huge--and growing, well, I don't need to connect the dots, do I?