Many organizations are spending on IT, are trying to cut costs of software, has considered giving up Microsoft Office with an alternative to free or almost free. And the fact is, the vast majority of Office users have not touched 90% of its features - they do not need, not want, do not understand, and do not want to learn. So why pay for all of the features of Office.

Until recently, a clear alternative to Office is OpenOffice.org, an open source project started by Sun Microsystems, which includes all the capabilities most users really need. Although not 100% compatible, OpenOffice is almost always shown particular documents from Microsoft Office was created correctly. That is a reasonable solution for most Office users - those who do not need the Excel chart or beautifully complex Word documents.

But that was before Oracle acquired Sun and OpenOffice.org. Now everything seems to get hit. Recent IT consumers are wondering if OpenOffice can also provide a credible alternative to the expensive Microsoft Office. Many companies have bet on the playing field with free switch to OpenOffice is monitoring the situation moved from bad to worse. To understand what is happening, let us look back at history.

Back in 1999, Sun Microsystems Office has purchased a product called StarOffice license from a German company. In 2000, Sun StarOffice turned into a open-source project, OpenOffice.org changed its name (the trademark constraint prevents Sun simply called OpenOffice.) The developers gathered for the project, grouping the idea of creating an open source alternative to the "cash cow" of Microsoft. Versions gradually improved compatibility with Microsoft Office and other features have been expanded gradually until version 3.0, released in 2008, has become an alternative to Microsoft Office.