Will Works work as free software?
I’ve been pondering the recent news that Microsoft is planning to release an ad-supported version of Works as a free desktop product, and I do think MS may be onto something with this. While most pundits are saying that the company should have released a web-based suite, a free version of Works may actually make more sense for MS. After all, even though web-based apps continue to gain popularity, the bigger threat to MS’s dominance of the office apps market right now is Open Office, which gets better and slicker with each new release. A free version of Works gives MS a way to compete directly with OO, and can also give the company a huge database of customers to whom it can pitch its higher-end products. And, the company really has nothing to lose; Works isn’t a big money-maker for MS, and it’s not even showing up in as many bundles as it used to, as MS pushes manufacturers to include trial versions of Office instead. The only real risk is that many users may find Works adequate and decide they don’t need a full-featured suite, but given the growth of OO, that seems like a risk that’s worth taking.
