True, a lite feature-poor or time-limited version may be included in future versions of Windows or for free download, a bundling and giveaway strategy which almost let IE bury Netscape and caused major antitrust lawsuits at the opening of this decade.

However, Office 2010 has two major features that users hate:

1) the “ribbon” interface, and

2) an increasing reliance on a feature MS loves, but we should hate: increasingly mandatory connection to the Internet, for updates, anti-piracy DRM, “cloud” storage, and (for free versions) the possibility of eventual free versions powered by advertising in banners that appear in the toolbar.

Unless MS backs away from these two bits of unfriendly programming, MS is genuinely driving us into the arms of OpenOffice.org.

Let’s face it: for people enamored of Office2003 and earlier versions, OpenOffice is a much easier and natural upgrade. The menus and functionality in OpenOffice are almost identical to those of MS Office 2003, except for a bit of feature reduction in OpenOffice’s spreadsheet’s ability to make pictographs from data tables.

When I worked at Toyota’s world headquarters a few years ago, Toyota’s worldwide standard was MS Office 2000…except that I was allowed to use OpenOffice.org, and found almost no problems in compatibility. I even found that, disarmingly, sometimes I’d mistakenly open one and think I was in the other!

Since we’re in harsh economic times and it’s increasingly hard to keep up with software makers’ DRM games, smart users will increasingly turn to mature, safe, always-free open source products like OpenOffice.org.

OpenOffice.org is well-placed to step in and take over, if MS chooses to continue making light of consumers’ wishes.