Submission + - Office 2007 UI License
MikeWeller writes: "Microsoft has recently announced a new licensing program for the Office 2007 user interface which "allows virtually anyone to obtain a royalty-free license to use the new Office UI in a software product".
"There's only one limitation: if you are building a program which directly competes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or Access (the Microsoft applications with the new UI), you can't obtain the royalty-free license."
What does this mean for OpenOffice? Will traditional menus/toolbars hold up to an ever increasing number of features, or will OO be forced to take on a new UI paradigm? With the gap between OO and MS Office widening, how is this going to affect users trying to move between the two platforms?
The license, along with a Channel9 interview (featuring a lawyer) can be found here."
"There's only one limitation: if you are building a program which directly competes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or Access (the Microsoft applications with the new UI), you can't obtain the royalty-free license."
What does this mean for OpenOffice? Will traditional menus/toolbars hold up to an ever increasing number of features, or will OO be forced to take on a new UI paradigm? With the gap between OO and MS Office widening, how is this going to affect users trying to move between the two platforms?
The license, along with a Channel9 interview (featuring a lawyer) can be found here."
