How long will we Office?

In his August 28 column, John Dvorak makes a point about why Microsoft Office, on the back of Word, will continue to be the dominant Office Suite. His messages are always interesting to read, whether you agree with his point or not. I happen to disagree with this one. Short term (which I define here as for the next five years) you may see the Microsoft Suite remain the dominant package. But there are too many others out there that can do as good a job. Economics alone will allow OpenOffice to make significant gains in market share. Various web-based programs will also erode Office's dominance. It is possible that the new Office 2007 innovations will do more to hurt than to help Microsoft -- that remains to be seen. Surely, the new version will require significant re-training by current users. The stability factor no longer will be completely in favor of the current champ. Listen to the wind -- it sings of changes ahead.