Will Microsoft Corp port its Office suite to Linux? During a radio interview in early March, industry pundit Simson Garfinkel off-handedly remarked that the company was exploring the possibility. His comment was widely reprinted, but Garfinkel now says he was mistaken. He had been in close contact with Microsoft employees who run Linux on their home computers, and had believed that the company’s lack of public commitment to Linux was a mere formality. Not so, says Microsoft, which denies that any such development effort is under way. The company says there’s no user demand for its office applications on Linux, though it is prepared to hear arguments to the contrary and has set up a special email address for the purpose, linuxq@microsoft.com. Meanwhile a German magazine claims that in spite of the company’s denials, 37 Microsoft developers have indeed been assigned to work on the port.
