IBM launched the site earlier this month to allow users to share experiences and provide feedback on its new Lotus Symphony suite of word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software desktop tools which is in beta-phase.
IBM plans to offer Symphony Documents, Spreadsheets and Presentations as free software that can be downloaded from the Internet. The software runs on Windows and Linux desktops and supports multiple file formats, including PDF, Microsoft Office and Open Document Format (ODF).
Lotus Symphony’s IBM-developed document accessibility features represent the first donation by IBM to the OpenOffice.org community since it formally joined. IBM expects to drive more ODF-based applications on the OpenOffice.org technology and is currently working with ODF formats to allow documents to interact better with business information such as ERP and supply chain management.
IBM plans to add more features like member voting to the Symphony website which it launched on 18 September. It has already redesigned the forum page based on early feedback from users. IBM’s stated objective for the site is to help drive product development priorities for upcoming releases.
There is an evolution taking place in the way documents are being used for collaboration, said Mike Rhodin, General Manager of collaboration for IBM’s Lotus Software division.
Millions are seeing it. It’s more than a free download.
The Symphony download figures breaks a previous record held by Lotus Notes, which is IBM’s most widely used product with over 135 million licensed users worldwide. Lotus Symphony will also be integrated into Lotus 8.
IBM’s Symphony move is being seen as a bid to challenge Microsoft Office’s dominance of the corporate knowledge worker desktop. Microsoft’s Home Office edition of Office retails at around $120 per copy.
