Time to switch to Openoffice?

Microsoft is now getting really serious in making sure people are using legal copies of their software. Here is a ctrl-c, ctrl-v (read: cut and paste) from the Openoffice website on why we should all make the switch. Openoffice is the Open Source Microsoft Office alternative, offering similar features but for free.

Is your office software legal? According to figures published by Microsoft, 35% of the software in the world is thought to be counterfeit or otherwise illegal. After years of unofficially tolerating piracy as a means of securing market share, Microsoft is now going on the offensive to make sure copies of its software are legitimate.

* It has just bought a software company specialising in detecting what software is installed on PCs.

* It is now using the internet to put piracy detection software into copies of MS-Office on people’s PCs.

* around the world, the Business Software Alliance is setting up schemes to prosecute offenders - for example, in the UK it is offering large cash rewards to anyone who informs against organisations.

* Microsoft’s licence agreements are complicated - it’s easy to break them by mistake.
If you have a copy of MS-Office at work, at school, at home - are you sure where it came from?

Fortunately, there is a completely legal and free alternative. OpenOffice.org 2 is a fully-featured office suite, similar in functionality to MS-Office.

Remember what I always say: MS-Office is £300, OpenOffice is free. Similar features. See the light yet?

via dvorak.org/blog