MS answers to Master Thesis

Microsoft is commenting on the master thesis I wrote about a few days ago (http://lodahl.blogspot.com/2008/04/master-thesis-openofficeorg-vs.html) on the website Comon (http://www.comon.dk/index.php/news/show/id=35500) .
Among other things, Jasper Bojsen from Microsoft in Denmark says that...

It is not possible to say, that the same calculations are valid for all public institutions, because there are big differences between the medical systems etc. used and in the way they are integrated.

I say: True enough. There are big differences between the public institutions and the medical systems etc. That is already taken into consideration by the author. Further more has Microsoft promised us full interoperability in Office 2007 and OOXML, so the integration shouldn't be any problem, or should it ?

Microsoft also claims that there should be taken into consideration, the productivity-advantages in Microsoft Office. This is precisely what shouldn't be, because that subject is covered in another chapter in the master thesis, and the conslusion is, that there is very limitted advantage in Microsoft Office compared to OpenOffice.org.

Master thesis: 'OpenOffice.org vs. Microsoft Office'

OpenOffice.org vs. Microsoft Office is the title of the master thesis from Birgir Ingolf Sigurðsson, Cand.merc(dat) at Copenhagen Business School. The master thesis is in Danish but there is a short summary in English:

This master thesis focuses on whether OpenOffice.org has the necessary attributes to be labeled a reel alternative to Microsoft Office and whether the Faroese public sector can lower cost by switching platform from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org. In addition to that, the thesis examines the Faroese public sector’s dependency on Microsoft Office and the IT vendors’ competences on the two office suites.

and the result ?

The total TCO for implementing OpenOffice.org at Klaksvík hospital is DKK. 306.554. TCO pr. workstation is DKK. 4.379. Compared to implementing Microsoft Office 2007 Pro Plus, the cost is DKK. 378.715 and pr. workstation DKK. 5.410. OpenOffice.org results in a cost reduction of 24 %.
The total TCO for implementing OpenOffice.org at Landssjúkrahúsið is DKK. 1.007.340. TCO pr. workstation is DKK. 2.518. Compared to implementing Microsoft Office 2007 Pro Plus, the cost is DKK. 1.682.400 and pr. workstation DKK. 4.206. OpenOffice.org results in a cost reduction of 67 %.
The total TCO for implementing OpenOffice.org at LandsNet (the entire public sector) is DKK. 13.181.750. TCO pr. workstation is DKK. 3.766. Compared to implementing Microsoft Office 2007 Pro Plus, the cost is DKK. 25.164.250 and pr. workstation DKK. 7.190. OpenOffice.org results in a cost reduction of 91 %

The complete thesis can be found on John Gøtze's blog .

UPDATE: The Master thesis is mentioned on the Danish magazines Version2: http://www.version2.dk/artikel/6809 and Comon: http://www.comon.dk/index.php/news/show/id=35438