IBM takes on Microsoft Office again with Lotus Symphony

Note: the description of the original Lotus Symphony product has been corrected.

An emboldened IBM challenged Microsoft's desktop application dominance with the introduction on Tuesday of IBM Lotus Symphony, a suite of free desktop applications.

Lotus Symphony is made up of three applications--word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs--which IBM already ships as part of Lotus 8.

The offering is in beta and is available as a free download with "community support" from IBM's Web site. IBM is considering other support options, according to a company executive.

Lotus Symphony Documents is IBM's editing software, designed for simplicity and standards support.

(Credit: IBM )

The name Lotus Symphony is recycled; it was the name of a desktop application suite that Lotus originally offered in the 1980s. In this renewed desktop software push, IBM is offering an "open" alternative to Microsoft's proprietary Office product line.

The software is based on the Eclipse open-source framework and natively supports the OpenDocument Format, or ODF, a standard document format derived from the OpenOffice open-source desktop suite.

The applications can also work with Microsoft Office documents and output Adobe PDF documents. People can make templates from existing Office documents, though Office documents with macros and other advanced features will not convert exactly, according to an IBM FAQ.

Significantly, Lotus Symphony will run on both Windows desktop computers and Linux machines. Support for Apple's Mac OS computers is planned.

"IBM is committed to opening office desktop productivity applications, just as we helped open enterprise computing with Linux," Steve Mills, senior vice president of IBM Software Group, said in a statement.

Mills and Mike Rhodin, Lotus' general manager, are hosting a press conference in New York on Tuesday to introduce Lotus Symphony.

IBM last week said it is joining the OpenOffice.org open-source project and will be contributing human resources and code to bolster the project's initiatives, though it did not commit to offering support to business customers who use OpenOffice.

The Lotus Symphony product, to be integrated with other business applications, is designed for simplicity. It is aimed at both end users and business customers.

"It's not about the document on the desktop anymore. It's all about making information universally accessible and putting it to work on any platform and on the Web in highly flexible ways," Mills said in a statement.

IBM has been assembling a strategy for several years to pry away the control that Microsoft has over corporate desktop software.

It launched a desktop software strategy called Workplace, setting development off the Lotus Notes Productivity Tools, which have now cumulatively become Lotus Symphony.

IBM has also invested heavily in Eclipse "rich client" software because it is extensible with plug-ins and can run on different destkop operating systems.

Lotus Symphony is a departure for IBM in that it is offered directly to consumers, as well as business, rather than part of its Lotus collaboration and e-mail software.

On a technical level, Lotus Symphony is "fat client" software. Until now, IBM has favored desktop productivity applications that are managed by a server.

[Commander_Spock]

Who ever said "Elephants Can't Dance"...

... to the Sound Of Symphonies! Well, Commander_Spock and Crew just had that gut feeling that all will see this happening sooner rather than later; and, especially since the "festive seasons" are nearly here - again. One should guess that it must be time for that ISO Approved Standards Party; and, guess which companies will not make it to the GALA!

[Lolo Gecko]

I Been Microsofted ...

are these guys impaired? or what? they jus' can't seem to stop diggin'

[linuxbeatsMS]

OpenProj gets added to the Suite and it is complete

Wow, what a great announcement from IBM. I have been using Projity's project management solutions along with OpenOffice. I use it on Linux and Windows and it has been a wonderful experience docs, spreadsheets, presentations and projects. You can simply open existing native Microsoft Office files and you are up and running immediately. It is great to see IBM contribute. They should bundle OpenProj into the Suite and you replace Project which would have cost me $1,000 for each copy I was going to add (3) until I migrated. IBM Symphony will ease the cost of the other elements !!!! Watch out Redmond

[Scott Trotter]

Wrong description of original "Symphony"

The author is incorrect about the original use of the name "Symphony." The original Lotus desktop spreadsheet product was called "1-2-3." "Symphony" was the name of a follow-on product which was an integrated office suite that included a 1-2-3-like spreadsheet, as well as a word processor and a database. IBM's use of the name is correct.

[ppgreat]

Less copying, more innovation

Word processing and spreadsheets and presentations, oh my!

Since the way we do business has been co-opted by a Microsoft
mentality of how to do business, the only thing that is going to
unseat MS is a non-Office suite of services that people will jump on
board with because it truly makes one more productive and isn't
tied to a whole bunch of other MS apps and servers.

[oxtail01]

IBM? didn't they give away the farm?

IBM basically gave away the farm when they gave DOS away and it's successor, Windows to MS. They failed miserably trying to recapture the market with PS/2. MS screwed everyone by withholding vital info for transitioning to Windows and dominant DOS players such as Lotus 123 and WordPerfect and DBase and Foxpro basically lost out. Unless someone can come up a way of breaking the lock between the operating system and the office suite that MS sells to corporations, no amount of free software is going to have a significant impact. MS dominates thru monopolistic practices, not thru innovation. And unless corporate IT departments have the guts to break away from MS, it really don't matter much. You think IT guys will risk their jobs to do so? Unlikely!

[PragmaticIdealist]

Open-source OS/2

Now that would be interesting. I wonder if it would get much uptake?