Where is "FireOffice -- the Firefox of OpenOffice.org"? The secret to succeeding with Open Source on the desktop...

In January 2004 there wasn't much hope for Mozilla browsers. Mozilla had a 5.5% share -- 1.5% more than it had in January 2003. The future looked bleak. But by the end of the year, Mozilla had tripled its numbers and had a share of 16.5%. A great leap forward that changed the game for browsers and gave IE some serious competition for the first time.

As you know, this extra 10% of users were not using Mozilla -- they were using Firefox, a brand new pared down browser based on Mozilla's code.

Firefox gave up trying to beat the incumbent Internet Explorer on features, standards compliance, or power. Instead, it did a few key things in a clearly better, easier way. You could pitch Firefox to anybody in a few seconds:

It was faster and more stable
It had tabs
It had built in search

... it was quick to install and it worked well alongside IE -- so there was not much risk if you didn't like it. You'd "download it and give it a try". I remember there were even Firefox plugins that would use the IE display engine on sites that didn't play nice with Firefox.

OpenOffice.org is in a similar position to Mozilla in 2003. OpenOffice.org should be irresistable -- it does nearly everything MS Office can do, in some cases better, and it's free. But the pitch fails because most Windows users already have Office, or would know how to get it if they wanted. OpenOffice.org's own why OpenOffice.org is not especially compelling if you already have MS Office installed -- it just sounds like the same product.

FireOffice -- the FireFox of OpenOffice.org -- would do a few things so obviously differently from MS Office that people wouldn't be able to help but try it out.

Here are the features that I want in FireOffice:

Loads faster than MS Office -- I don't mind it 90% fewer features, because if I need to break out the big guns I can load MS Office (or the full OpenOffice.org). Just get my document open faster.
Handles multiple open documents better -- a tabbed interface with the option to have documents, spreadsheets, presentations open in different tabs on the same window.
1 or 2 killer interesting, time saving features -- that I haven't thought of
Lightweight, fun and interesting extensions -- like import photos from Flickr to illustrate presentations, upload my documents to Scribd easily, and so on. Not serious stuff that turned it back into a heavy app, but fun things that made me want to show FireOffice to my friends.

FireOffice wouldn't try to stop me owning MS Office. It would try to get me using it less. It would make my core day to day tasks go by faster and be more fun.

Please somebody, fork OpenOffice.org and build FireOffice -- I am waiting and ready to use a lightweight open source office suite.

What do you think of OpenOffice.org and Firefox? What other Open Source apps could learn from the Firefox example? Tweet or comment me...

Jun 16, 2009

smartinx said...

I think this is a great idea and would love to see a lightweight, Open Source alternative that has the types of features you outline.

But there is a flaw in the parallel you draw with Firefox and IE. IE came with the OS, so for all intents it was "free." People are very willing willing to cast aside one "freebie" for another, so trying Firefox didn't mean casting aside any sort of monetary investment.

MS Office isn't free. Casting it aside for FireOffice or any other product means dumping an investment. That's a big barrier for some people. "But I spent $$$$ on this...I have to use it."

David Barnes said...

Good point -- I guess that's why many people are resistant to switching over. They don't want OpenOffice.org to turn out better.

If FireOffice had far fewer features would that make people feel better about it, do you think? Position it as "the perfect, lightweight complement to the full office suite that a power user like you needs and deserves". A bit of flattery.

Utahcon said...

More important is to catch the user before puchasing MS Office. I would be all over something like this! I use OpenOffice.org, but I admit it is not as nice to use as MS Office, and seems too heavy at times. A lightweight answer would be awesome.

I also wouldn't mind seeing Apple Open Source Keynote :D

davidmoldawer said...

I see web-based apps as the future of office software, not openoffice. it's like, why fuss with thunderbird development when you've got gmail?

Jul 03, 2009

etali said...

I was tired when I first read this, and I thought it was real - I got so excited :(

I actually hate Open Office. I have clients who use MS Office, and they always seem to find the features that create files that just don't quite look right when opened in Open Office. Add to that the fact that there's almost no difference in performance between the two apps, and I wonder why I even bother having OO taking up space on my hard drive.

I'd love something lighter and faster to use as a basic office suite on my netbook.