Quite a bit of talk has arisen today over two of Microsoft's competitors (Google and IBM) offering free office suites in an attempt to supplant Microsoft as the office king. And now that this is happened, some are wondering if Microsoft will finally face reality and offer its own Office product for free so it can compete.

Signs of increased patent aggression in Microsoft's behaviour amid sinking profits

The battle over office suites heats up after the OOXML BRM Convenor openly criticises Microsoft, which he once ushered and helped beyond his authority

The Microsoft Office productivity suite has risen to become the dominant application of its type for business IT management. But there are open source office productivity suites available that may provide a suitable alternative to Office.

In response to criticism from some involved with OOXML, Microsoft is adding Office binary formats to a list of technologies that are protected from patent violation claims

The Australian Government has released a policy that mandates the ECMA-376 version of Microsoft's Office Open XML standard and productivity suites that can 'read and write' the .docx format. If you're not familiar with the OOXML fiasco, take a look at http://noooxml.org/ for the sordid details.

Nobody disputes that Microsoft Office is king of the hill in office suites, but if you put marketing and market share aside, how does OpenOffice.org compare?

When you think about office suites, two names come to mind: Microsoft Office and OpenOffice. Although the vast majority of Linux users depend upon OpenOffice for their office needs, the alternatives should not be overlooked.

Microsoft is set to launch Office 2010 Starter -- a stripped down and ad-supported (but totally free [as in price]) version of Office 2010. Is this Microsoft's response to OpenOffice and Google Apps? Or is this an opportunity to get PC buyers to "try then buy" complete Office suites? Here are some thoughts.