[ILUG] ms word not needed to write word documents

[Nick Murtagh]

P at draigBrady.com wrote:
> It should be noted that "word" documents can be created
> on linux with openoffice for e.g., but because the format
> is controlled by M$ and there are rumblings about DRM,
> this may not be the case in the future.

One of the reasons people stick with Word is that it's "easy" - it's
probably installed on their computers already, and they become familiar
with it. DRM makes things "difficult" - and people won't use it unless
they are forced to. The introduction of DRM into Office won't force
people to use it, and won't stop Office users from being able to
read non-restricted files from OpenOffice users (and users of older
versions of Office). And like most DRM schemes it will probably be
cracked by some Norwegian bloke fairly quickly ;)

IMHO, of course.


Nick