No more free ride for Open Office plug-in

Oracle start charging for Sun's Office ODF plug-in

In 2007, Sun released the Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office, as a closed source but free application which allowed Microsoft Office users to export and import documents in Open Document Format. Although the Oracle site still, at the time of writing, offers the software for free with the tagline "Get it now: FREE", users clicking through will find that Oracle are now charging $90, per user, for a right-to-use license for the plug-in and offering support costing $19.80 per user for the first year.

Oracle start charging for Sun's Office ODF plug-in - The H Open Source: News and Features

Why doesn't Microsoft offer this feature, its their program.

Jim

Phone Man said:

Why doesn't Microsoft offer this feature, its their program.

Jim

That's like asking why does Caddilac not offer Mercedes accessories.

My impression is that Microsoft supports ODF already in Office 2007 and up, so what is the need for Suns plugin. I have not used MS Office since Office 97 since I have no real need. I do use OpenOffice for the few minor things I need. Just curious of what this really means and what effect it will have on the World. Does MS Office not handle ODF correctly and the Sun plugin is a fix???

Jim

Just guessing, but I rather suspect this [Open Document Format] has more to do with Open Office playing nice with MS Office, as opposed to it being something that MS Office is missing (and should have.)