Microsoft will release a version of Office to run on Linux within the “next couple of years,” according to the chief executive of the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL). “They did it once with Apple; they will do it again with Linux,” Stuart Cohen said during an interview at the LinuxWorld conference in San Francicso.

Cohen argued that Microsoft will be compelled to create a Linux version in a move to preempt the further rise of Sun Microsystems’ open-source OpenOffice productivity suite.
Cohen claimed that Microsoft is starting to soften its stance against open source. “They are trying to cooperate,” said Cohen. “They have now acknowledged that Linux is here to stay.”

The change is attitude is limited to Microsoft as a company, he stressed, maintaining that Windows and Linux will remain fierce competitors. Source: NewsFactor