[Am-info] Sun Plays Off Microsoft License Changes

[Fred A. Miller]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Sun Plays Off Microsoft License Changes

Sun Microsystems thinks it sees an opening in its battle to
undercut Microsoft's Office productivity apps. License changes by
Microsoft should make Sun's open-source rival to Office,
StarOffice, more attractive to businesses, Sun execs say. Version
6 of StarOffice is due to ship next week, and Sun is spotlighting
how Microsoft now requires Office buyers to sign maintenance
agreements in order to get upgrades. Microsoft is "putting a gun
to the head of a lot of folks in a very tight economic
environment," Jonathan Schwartz, chief strategy officer for Sun,
told reporters Wednesday.

In fact, Sun execs acknowledged that the more likely customer for
StarOffice would be companies whose employees didn't need
Office's many capabilities--such as retail, call-center, and
factory workers. As a customer reference, Sun presented a
representative from Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp., who
described how StarOffice is being used on Linux desktops mostly
for simple text editing.

The upgrade includes the ability to open, save, and exchange
Office files. It also uses a default file format based on XML,
making it possible for developers to more easily share StarOffice
content with other programs. StarOffice 6 will be sold on a
per-user basis, ranging from $25 to $50, depending on volume.
- - Antone Gonsalves

Read more at:
Startup Adds Collaboration Features To Excel
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eHMA0Bce7K0V20Ba4E0Ab


- --
Fred A. Miller
Systems Administrator
Cornell Univ. Press Services
fm@cupserv.org, www.cupserv.org
- --- SuSE Linux v8.0 Pro---



-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iEYEARECAAYFAjzj6ywACgkQB9vk4ichYXfHRQCgqKxv9qTELS4vRMc1NU/NC4bO
UFoAn0hipU0JB3grw9rO6RKYZEXZJRGt
=xjUH
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----