IBM says it is offering millions of companies "the chance to save hundreds of dollars" on each of their Microsoft Office licenses. How? By providing support for Microsoft Office 2007 with the newest version of its Lotus Symphony, IBM's free of charge productivity software suite.
This could translate into millions of dollars in savings at many large companies that are looking for financial relief in the current economy, according to Kevin Cavanaugh, VP of Lotus Software.
"IBM is delivering on its commitment to free businesses and consumers from having to pay licensing fees over and over, just to access their own personal or company information," says Cavanaugh.
"Now, it will be much harder to justify paying Office licensing fees when you can preserve and access your Office documents for free using Lotus Symphony," he adds.
IBM's alternative to Microsoft Office 2007 makes cost-free document software a potentially serious option for companies wanting cost savings, particularly in the current economic climate.
Incidentally, Lotus Symphony 1.3 also offers DataPilot Table improvements that, according to IBM, make it easy to drill down and analyse data. It also interoperates with Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.
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