Microsoft USED TO be the only ones to offer something we needed. An office suite, we needed that, MS was the ones that did it right. They got it into business' and schools, and now a few generations of people have learned with it and rely on it.

However there is a new generation of people now that have had access to alternatives, and they no longer NEED Microsoft. MS needs to find that new want, instead of just following the leader. That isn't what made them successful, they became MS by being leaders.

@Soldierone

Yes there are other alternatives, but the alternatives still do not come close to what Office has become. Granted, Microsoft is screwed because there isn't much more they can do to Office besides put a different number on the box and change the colors; Office has been refined to the point that nothing really more can be done to it.

Alternatives such as iWork, OpenOffice, and LibreOffice (we can all agree Corel WordPerfect is dead at this point) are OK for the average user and much easier on the wallet in comparison to Office, but these alternative still lack some of the more powerful features Office has to offer (though only a very small percentage of people use them).

My biggest issue with the alternatives (I've used all three) is that all of their spreadsheet programs pale in comparison to Excel. Excel is a beast with the functions and functionality it provides. I have many things that I do in Excel on a regular basis that just cannot be done in the alternatives due to missing functions. I either have to find a work around with existing functions or figure out a totally different method altogether. Again I consider myself part of the minority, but this is one of the reasons I'm stuck with Office.

The other thing the alternatives have against them is people's familiarity with the Office name and programs. It's the "go to" for them; it's what their work place uses; it's what their schools used; people just do not want to relearn a new office suite regardless of how much it "almost" looks like office.