When Oracle released the OpenOffice project in 2000, few knew the success it would have over the past 11 years. OpenOffice has been seen as a premier example of how open source can work on a large scale and still be enterprise worthy. Other notable open source projects like Apache Web server and Linux have been quite successful in their, relatively small, markets. OpenOffice is one desktop application that has had resounding success in the marketplace, even though it is open source.
The problem with many open source applications is that users, especially businesses, feel that a free, open source alternative will provide them with little support in case of issues they encounter. Back in 2000 this may have been the case but, as with the growth of the internet, online forums and wiki's have grown substantially and are now a valid source of information. If you have a question about the program, most likely someone else had/has the same issue and the answer is just a few clicks away, sometimes even faster than a support phone call. The OpenOffice model is a great example of how to implement a successful open source platform. Hopefully businesses will start to see more of the benefits of open source, instead of focusing on the minute drawbacks from using open-source.
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