IBM Suddenly Switches to Symphony

The Handelsblatt, a German economic newspaper, reported with an insider quote that the staff at IBM have been given ten days to change to Symphony, IBM’s in-house Lotus software. In the future, any use of Microsoft Office will require approval from a manager. Effective immediately, the Open Document Format will rule at IBM, while the .doc file will soon belong to the past.

Lotus Symphony is an office software package that incorporates huge majorities of customized Open Office without a databank module, and the free software download provided by IBM is a definitive attempt to lure customers away from Microsoft software. IBM’s recent cooperation with Linux distributors like Red Hat, Novell and Canonical was designed from the start to strengthen the software’s chances in the market.

In a surprising move, IBM’s management seem to have settled on practicing what they preach. 330,000 IBM employees already regularly use Symphony, reports the German newspaper. It also reports that the motive for the migration didn’t have anything to do with the company saving on license fees, and according to an IBM press officer, the decision is a clear statement by IBM on their apprecition of open source standards. Courtesy of linux-magazine.com