IBM Forces Employees To Stop Using Microsoft Office

Just read a report where 360,000 IBM workers have been told to stop using Microsoft Office and switch to the Open Office-bases software Symphony.

The inside source says that staff were given ten days to change to Symphony, IBM's in-house Lotus software. The use of Microsoft Office in the future will require manager approval.

With this change, Open Document Format (ODF) will rule as files ending with .doc will be replaced.

I'm glad to see these kind of changes as it frees people from relying too much with one system. While I don't have anything with Microsoft Office, having only the .doc format sometimes limits ones ability to switch to another system if you decide to change.

Specially now that were are more connected, having an open standard gives you an ability to just put your document online without worrying if it will open in another browser or computer system. You can't expect to always have your laptop with you. That's one of the beauty of Google Docs and why it's probably gaining popularity.

With the Open Document Format, you can easily switch between Linux, Microsoft Windows or Apple OS X with no problem.