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IBM is announcing free desktop software, called I.B.M. Lotus Symphony, at an event today in New York, reports the New York Times.  The programs for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations will be available as free downloads from the IBM Web site.

Its offerings are versions of open-source software developed in a consortium called OpenOffice.org.  Free office productivity software has long been available from OpenOffice.org, but the open-source alternative has not yet made much progress against Microsoft’s Office.  IBM, analysts note, has such reach and stature with corporate customers that its endorsement could change that.

“I.B.M. is jumping in with products that are backed by I.B.M., with the I.B.M. brand and I.B.M. service,” said Melissa Webster, an analyst for IDC, a research firm. “This is a major boost for open source on the desktop.”

Symphony desktop offerings are part of a broader technology trend that opens the door to faster, more automated movement of information within and between organizations.  OpenDocument Format makes digital information independent of the program, like a word processor or spreadsheet, that is used to create and edit a document because it is based on an Internet protocol called XML. 

Microsoft has its own document format, called Office Open XML.  Earlier this month, they tried and failed in their initial effort to have Office Open XML ratified as a global technical standard by the International Organization for Standardization in Geneva.  The OpenDocument Format, backed by IBM, Google, Sun and others, was approved by the standards organization last year.

Any inroads IBM and its allies make against Microsoft, analysts say, will not come easily. “Three major players — I.B.M., Google and Sun — are now solidly behind a potential competing standard to Office,” said Rob Koplowitz, an analyst at Forrester Research. “But it’s a tough road. Office is very entrenched.”