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BobC...I think Intel in its position would just ride high on the success. The doc foundation guys would all get famous and find great jobs. IBM would go on to finish Symphony as a long term off shoot of Intel finishing LO, etc.
Intel has to think of Sony, Toshiba, IBM, and all the other great manufacturers...don't want to lose those. Anyway, LO will be free for everyone, so they will all be able to use it...Intel didn't buy the rights to the LO software...just committed its support.
There's a ton of politics in all that. I imagine it was a tough decision for Intel to get behind LO in the first place. Even more reason for me to believe that they must be desperate to develop it. Intel must need this kind of software themselves. The bottleneck is VB. MS has VB, and I would look for a court battle over it before long unless MS makes a deal with Intel. Something like "we (MS) release the first fully universally compatible office suite, and you guys can use VB." Intel might say, OK, but we want it free for everyone or something. That would bring IBM and Symphony back into development. I don't see any way Intel and MS exit this situation on truly friendly terms. Never like it was before. Intel and IBM will probably become closer since both now have an interest in office suite software...even though IBM has ceased updates on Symphony.
All this would change the game for the developers of Mint. We'd probably see a much more sophisticated version of that. Guess I believe there would be a domino effect.
Claw...not sure anything free from MS would be much of anything.
BobC...we can look for better versions of DOSBox down the road. I am sure of it. Create you own start up file with your own icon for running the program just like any program but create it using a really easy interface. Also, adljust the run settings for the program from a menu after setup for fine tuning, fullscreen, etc. Eventually, it will happen.
Claw, one thing about stripped down office software. Within 5 years from now there will be a tool that will make it possible to write a macro without knowing VB. It will render everything today obsolete, although the real VBers get alot from MS Office already. There will be a legit formula builder tool, too. Follow the instructions make your choices and when done you have a macro or a formula. We'll be able to create vitual arrays with an interface for graphs also. Like you won't actually have to compile the numbers to use them in a graph. They will exist only virtually.
I think this stuff is what all the tremors is all about. There has to be a 100% compatibility standard for all office suite files, so that sharing files is possible without hassles (They all have the same properties...by type (spreadsheet, database, presentation, etc.) I mean). I have really believed that for a long time. Intel in the software game is a strong indication that we are getting close imo. It's like "this is the last straw MS. We have waited too long for you and Apple to work together on this, so we will force you to get it straight by doing it ourselves and making you meet our comatibility standards."
BobC...tablets are great and a fad at the same time. They'll always be around and we'll have TV on them and be able to rent movies. That will be the main thing about them. But the office desktop will be where the real action is for IT...in the corporate world...the money too. I really believe that anyone that doesn't understand that doesn't understand what the corporate world has invested in desktops. That's great news for us that use them alot...
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