LXer: Understanding Oracle's ODF Plug-in Pricing: What it Means for OpenOffice.org
 

Published at LXer:

Andy Updegrove may have cracked the code on Oracle's seemingly insane decision to start charging $90 for the formerly free ODF plugin for Microsoft Office. That's $90 in a minimum pack of 100, plus a 22% support fees for updates. Does Oracle really think that this will fly with companies, is Oracle trying to kill off the product entirely? The ODF plugin was developed to allow Microsoft Office users to exchange documents with OpenOffice.org users. It works for spreadsheets, presentations, and word processing docs and Sun gave it away for years. So why has Oracle so suddenly decided to charge for it? Whatever Oracle's strategy, the company isn't talking.

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I think what they did is stupid. They're probably thinking that if they charge for it, people who use M$ Office will refuse to pay and thus will not accept odf documents, forcing Openoffice users to export to doc or pdf. But, they can also just have Openoffice installed, and then be able to open both for free, like the article says. I can't see any reasoning behind this pricing, or maybe they have some hidden plan.