#25: Now apply this same logic to productivity suites - and let me know what one cannot do with Office, free WSS Sharepoint, etc... that one can do with Google Apps? Now reverse that question and ask what Office and the Windows Client/Server ecosystem can do that Google can't? Line up your lists and make your decisions. It's pretty easy to see which comes out on top... and it ain't Google.
A much better and more useful comparison would be to take a list of all the features you need in an office productivity suite, and then make a column for MS Office, a column for OpenOffice, a column for AbiWord, etc., and then mark off which application performs each function point by point, and figure out which application performs the most features for the best price, and go with that one.
Yes, MS Office is a very full featured and powerful application suite. It integrates well with a wide range of Microsoft applications and servers. However, if you are not in an environment where you use all those other servers, then this ability would be of minimal benefit, and not worth the premium price for the ability. For example, at home I do some basic word processing, some light spreadsheets, etc. Thus, OpenOffice works quite well for me in that environment. Therefore, it would be a waste of money to pay a premium price for all the functionality of Word, Excel, etc., in my home environment. On the other hand, at the office, I wouldn't want to do without Outlook. Word, Excel, etc., get some use, but even there I don't use 95% of the functionality of these applications. However, since we are a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, we get good pricing, so it is much cheaper there than I could personally get licenses for.
Therefore, as I have stated in other postings, it comes down to which applications best meet your needs for the best price and performance point. Until you know what the customer's needs are, I don't believe anyone can logically recommend any productivity suite. Some environments absolutely need Microsoft Office, and others can make due quite well with alternatives, from OpenOffice to WordPerfect Suite, to WordPad. That is the benefit to having options. Different needs can be met in different ways.
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