IBM ready to conduct Symphony

In addition to the release of the generally available public release, IBM has announced for-pay software support help to accompany its Lotus Symphony office productivity software. Lotus Symphony is a direct competitor to the market leading Microsoft Office suite, and joins a legion of alternative productivity suites, including Google Apps. The software itself, which includes full-feature word processing, presentation design, and spreadsheet application, is free, though many companies have expressed concerns about the long term sustainability of free software. IBM’s move lends credence to Symphony as a genuine alternative, by following a more conventional for-profit business model in the deliver of software.