OpenOffice.org tries to woo Dell
Published:13-March-2007
By BR staff writer
The OpenOffice.org open source productivity suite project has written to Dell Inc hoping to persuade the company to adopt OpenOffice in response to customer demand.
The open letter was sent to Dell chairman and chief executive, Michael Dell, by John McCreesh, OpenOffice.org marketing project lead, and also invites Dell to contribute to the project financially.
"Let's have a conversation about how we could build an 'OpenOffice.org supplied by Dell'product to give your customers what they are asking for," wrote McCreesh, in reference to the demand for open source products on Dell's IdeaStorm web site.
The site was set up in mid-February to take in the views of Dell's customers and potential customers and has seen a significant number of requests for open source software.
Pre-installed OpenOffice.org is currently the second most requested offering, behind that of Linux on the desktop. While Dell has responded to the latter with news that it is certifying Novell Inc's SUSE Linux for its desktop hardware, it has been less responsive to OpenOffice.org.
Returning Dell CEO, Michael Dell, was recently named the 30th richest person in the world and MCCreetch also took the opportunity to ask him to consider sharing some of his estimated $15.8bn with the open source project.
"We'd also be happy to accept any financial contribution that Dell might offer to help ensure that OpenOffice.org continues to evolve in the future," he wrote.
