Firms looking for a way out of complex licensing and support terms for Microsoft Office should assess the enhanced OpenOffice open-source suite, according to tests by IT Week Labs.

A new beta version, dubbed Build 643, was launched last week, making it easier to migrate to the open-source suite by simplifying the way users create macros. A macro recorder now lets users create macros by recording their keystrokes and mouse movements as they navigate through dialog boxes.

OpenOffice is free and compatible with desktop systems including Windows 95 through to XP, Apple Mac and Linux. Firms wanting support services can buy Sun's version of the software bundled with support under the StarOffice brand. Suse and Red Hat are also shipping OpenOffice as part of their desktop operating systems.

The OpenOffice release comes as Microsoft users complain of being forced into upgrades. Microsoft last week said the next version of Office will only work with Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3, or Windows XP and later desktop releases because Windows 95 and 98 are "inherently insecure".

About half of Office users, who run other versions of Windows, will not be able to upgrade directly to Office 11 as a result.

Microsoft said Office 11 is aimed at medium to large firms, adding that most are already using Windows 2000 or XP. But Microsoft's new licensing charges coupled with its poor record on security have prompted many organisations to consider open source alternatives. "A lot of our customers say that security (is their main reason for) going to open source," said Paul Cormier, a vice president at Linux distributor Red Hat, at its Open Source Security Summit last week.

David Roberts, chief executive of The Corporate IT Forum, which represents the IT interests of blue chip companies, said that although many firms were piloting open source systems, their reliance on Microsoft made migration extremely difficult. "There's much more [Windows] 95, 98 and NT 4.0 about than you might think," he said. Most would take four years to migrate to another desktop system, he added.

The European Commission last week launched a five-month project, led by UK consultancy Netproject, to study the advantages of open-source software in government. The EC is spending £160,000 on the investigation, which will examine migration to Linux from existing desktop and server systems in the German public sector.

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