Latest anti-Microsoft FUD disses Office 2003 "Lock
WinInfo | at | by Mike
A curiously similar set of articles popped up online this week, describing Microsoft's latest Office suite, Office 2003, as Redmond's latest attempt to lock users in to Microsoft technologies and products. It's an odd claim, because Office 2003 is the first Office version to fully support open standards such as XML. But the charges are so obvious as to be almost comical in their simplicity: Because Microsoft "forces" you to use their technology across the board to get the best experience--Windows Server 2003, SharePoint and Exchange on the server; along with Windows XP and Office 2003 on the client--the company is obviously up to something evil. Folks, this is ridiculous, and I'd be the first person to rip into Microsoft if it weren't so. Here's the real story: Office 2003 will work with non-Microsoft, server-based data sources; all they have to do is support XML. That's it. This capability lets Office 2003 users work in a perfectly heterogeneous environment, maybe with Oracle or SAP on the backend, and Microsoft Office 2003--especially the InfoPath forms application on the client...