(13-May-10) Canadian businesses overwhelmingly plan to upgrade to either Microsoft Office 2010 or 2007 by the end of 2011, and some will complement licences of the office suite with less expensive or free alternatives, according to an analyst survey.
Nintey-nine per cent of businesses surveyed have standardized on Microsoft Office, according to London, Ont.-based analyst firm Info-Tech Research Group. Those firms also plan to upgrade to either Office 2010 (33 per cent) or Office 2007 (52 per cent) within the next 18 months, Info-Tech says Currently most businesses are using Office 2003 or earlier (58 per cent).
The stats pour cold water on the notion that alternative office suites such as Google Docs or other open source alternatives are encroaching on Microsoft’s territory. They are also supported by a Gartner Inc. report finding of a 94 per cent worldwide marketshare for Office.