Google aims to improve OpenOffice

Google is “throwing bodies” at OpenOffice, the open-source Office productivity suite available free online. This is sure to resurrect suspicions that Google aims to challenge Microsoft’s two “cash cows” Office and Windows.

According to CNET :

Google plans to hire programmers to improve OpenOffice.org, a demonstration of its affinity for open source initiatives and one the company believes also shows sound practical sense. Now Google believes it can help OpenOffice–perhaps working to pare down the software’s memory requirements or its mammoth 80MB download size, said Chris DiBona, manager for open-source programs at the search company.

“We use a fair amount of open-source software at Google. We want to make sure that’s a healthy community. And we want to make sure open source preserves competitiveness within the industry,” he said.

Taken together with Google’s recent alliance with Sun Microsystems, this story adds fuel to the fire of speculation.
[From News.com]