IBM Releases Lotus Symphony 1 – An Office Suite Based On OpenOffice

IBM hates Microsoft. It’s no secret.

So when IBM has a chance to stick it to their former business partners, they will. In this case, developing a MS Office competitor based on OpenOffice (which, in turn, is based on Sun Microsystem’s StarOffice) called Lotus Symphony.

Lotus Symphony is a free download for users of Windows and Linux, even though Linux support is limited to SUSE and Red Hat. It’s mostly targeted toward enterprise customers (with $25,000 a year tech support – OUCH!)

The main differences between OpenOffice and Lotus Symphony are the interface and the fact that OO is open source while LS is closed source. You can’t change and redistribute Lotus Symphony, at least not legally.

While I still suggest OpenOffice, or better yet Go-OO – a version of OpenOffice designed to run faster with better Microsoft Office interoperability, IBM’s offering may entice you if you’re looking for something different. Plus, there’s Lotus Symphony plug-ins readily available. Look at the tabs at the top of the homepage.

(Image courtesy Download Squad)