Free software takes on Microsoft Office

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - Pierre Avignon is no pirate, but he does not believe in paying for software. His computer is filled with programs like Symphony -- a free suite that he downloaded from an International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) website (http://symphony.lotus.com).

It performs work for which he used to rely on Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Word word processor, Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation builder, all components of the Microsoft Office software suite.

"It is free. It is a great deal," says Avignon, a 43-year-old graphics designer from West Newbury, Massachusetts.

Free software was once almost exclusively borne of a grass-roots effort -- with an anti-Microsoft bent -- seeking alternatives to paid software. The movement produced myriad programs, but only a handful of widely used titles such as the Linux operating system.

Microsoft says Office has 500 million users.

Growth in the availability of broadband Internet access has spawned a new type of free software -- programs that its developers host on their own servers and have designed to foster collaboration among users by making documents easy to share.

Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and smaller Internet companies such as privately held Zoho offer free office suites over the Web. (http://docs.google.com and www.zoho.com).

Users don't have to install the programs or even keep documents on their own PCs.