I have always been interested in computers, and would find myself hanging out with the Computer Science students instead of the Aviation Management or Business Management students I was a part of. At home and at work I have been largely self-teaching myself using computers starting with Excel and Access with VBA through ASP and SQL at work. Thankfully my current employer values education, and so I have been taking classes and not only learning the technology, but un-learning what I have been doing wrong over the years. At home, though, I have been teaching myself Linux, system administration, networking and the overall method of migrating our system from Windows to Linux. I am involved in the Danbury Area Computer Society (DACS.org) I have the opportunity to take what I've learned the hard way and hopefully help others.. I have been enjoying Open Source for a while now, and I am hoping to get a better understanding of the entire model and application.
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I've never been overly fond of OpenOffice's interface either, and it gets worse compared to Office 2010. I use it at home because I must (only Linux runs at home), but if I could get Office 2010 to run in Linux (natively, mind you) I would be in computer Nirvana!
When Office 2010 came out it leapfrogged it's two competitors by offering a natively installed Office suite (unlike Google Docs) which allows for uploading and synchronizing with the web, including a web-interface (unlike OpenOffice).
While not perfect, the closest I have found for OpenOffice is the extension <a href="http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/ooo2gd">OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs</a> which allows importing and exporting OpenOffice files with Google Docs.
For a cloud-based solution the closest I've seen is Box.net (business, the paid version) + Google Docs provides online storage and the ability to open documents in Google Docs and save them back into your Box.net storage. I think the business version also allows for file synchronization (like Dropbox) but only for Windows (Mac is coming, Linux is "we promise"...)
Alone, Google Docs and OpenOffice cannot compete toe-to-toe for users because when given a choice they will go with the "user experience" focused programs because they are, well ... , users.
There is still a lot of potential in the Office suite market and as usual Open Source has the enviable position of being able to build something powerful that meets the needs of the user.
Unfortunately once you include a server component, you have to somehow make money to pay for the server. Otherwise if it is an online-based solution that you can install on your own servers, and the User-Experience is good enough, there may be a significant corporate uptick as companies with multiple locations and/or mobile employees can benefit from a locally-controlled Cloud-based solution that integrates seamlessly with their in-office installed office suite.
And that, would allow OpenOffice/LibreOffice/*office to leapfrog Microsoft and Apple.
I don't think Microsoft is thinking that deeply. This is likely viewed by the 10,000 foot perspective where they are trying to get back to competitiveness (is that a word? ;))
Google, Apple and open source vendors are innovating and pushing forward with their own devices and goals. Microsoft hasn't come up with a specific "goal" so the purchase of Skype may be more a knee-jerk reaction rather than a larger, sinister, thought-out plan.
If it can increase Microsoft's competitiveness with Apple (Talktime) and Google (Gtalk), that is their goal. If it hurts open source then I think they view that as "added fluff".
Otherwise, I think Microsoft is listing in the sea, and the stock market is taking note. Oh yes, they are making billions of dollars in their sleep, but people and investors are starting to question how long this spigot will last! They've got years of life support in Windows, Office and their other products, but procrastinating will only get one bought up. There is no "gee whiz" or "whiz bang" product on the horizon to get people excited about what's to come and that's killing them. They look like a fossil that is lumbering off to the tar pits.