Big Blue can still pack a punch in the Web 2.0 world. Silicon Valley’s eyes have been turned this week on the TechCrunch40 conference (see note below), a coming-out party for the Valley’s hottest new internet companies. How ironic, then, that some of the biggest news has come from an old tech giant that was conspicuously absent.

IBM has said it will distribute a version of Open Office, the open-source office productivity suite, to run with its Lotus Notes software. While Web 2.0 start-ups are racing to out-do each other with new online Office-type applications, IBM has just dusted off an old Microsoft competitor and given it a fresh coat of paint.

Of course, Open Office has failed to make any dent in Microsoft’s market until now, despite Sun Microsystems’ much-trumpeted support for the software. Thanks to the distribution muscle of Lotus and its reputation with corporate IT departments, though, Big Blue might well fare better.

Conspiracy theorists will have noticed that IBM’s declaration of support for Open Office comes the day after Microsoft was handed a humiliating defeat in its battle with European regulators. The IBM-backed trade group that lobbied hard against Microsoft in Europe is widely expected to try to persuade the EU to take aim next at the dominant market position of Microsoft’s Office software. IBM has also so far succeeded in preventing Microsoft from having its new Office formats declared an international standards (unlike the ODF formats in Open Office.)

This has even overshadowed news from Google today that it will add a Powerpoint-like presentation feature to its online applictions, putting the final element of its own Office-like suite in place.

So what hope is there for the new Web 2.0 wannabes? Like Zimbra, which just sold itself for $350m to Yahoo, the best ones can hope to find a buyer from among the handful of giants. The rest should enjoy their moment in the TechCrunch spotlight: a long obscurity beckons.

September 18th, 2007 in Internet | Permalink