ODPG: A Grass Roots Approach for the Introduction of Open-Source Productivity Suites

Open-source software (OSS) is already a commodity, especially at the server side, such as the LAMP (Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP/Python/Perl) stack for web applications. In addition, OSS is recently gaining popularity at the client side. However, there are many problems to eliminate monopolies on productivity software running on office-workers' desktops, and the migration from proprietary software to OSS is not so easy in the real business environment. In this paper, the current status of OSS productivity utilization, problems in the desktop use of OSS, and experiences and challenges by a discussion group for migrating to an open-source productivity suite into Japanese businesses are reported.