RSSGoogle Starts Distributing StarOffice, Now Free
By Nate Mook | Published August 14, 2007, 4:12 PM
Almost two years ago, Google and Sun Microsystems held a special event to announce a multi-year partnership in which each company would distribute the other's software. Industry analysts issued a collective yawn, and not much has been heard about the agreement since - until now.
Over the weekend, Google quietly added Sun's StarOffice productivity suite -- the software that became OpenOffice.org and is now based upon it -- to Google Pack. The free collection of applications for Windows now numbers 13, and features other programs such as Skype, RealPlayer, Adobe Reader and Spyware Doctor.
Typically, a new product being added to Google Pack wouldn't warrant much interest (especially since the first 12 were available for free previously), but StarOffice normally costs $70, and the move could be seen as a challenge to the dominance of Microsoft Office. It's also a sign that Google isn't interested in building or branding its own offline office suite, as was rumored back in 2005.
But the real news here isn't new competition for Microsoft; rather, a free StarOffice -- which includes licensed fonts and support -- will be of most impact to Corel's WordPerfect, which holds onto a small slice of the market, and OpenOffice.org itself. Indeed, Microsoft Watch editor Joe Wilcox notes that Google could have started distributing OpenOffice.org, but opted for its commercial counterpart instead.
"Where Microsoft wins is distribution of the commercial Sun software, rather than its open-source software. Open-source advocates should consider the Google-Sun deal as a foreboding occurrence," said Wilcox.
The real winner, however, seems to be the consumer, who will benefit most from this push toward free software and services. Microsoft has indicated it will soon release an ad-supported version of Microsoft Works, which is a slimmed-down version of Office. And Google continues to build upon its Docs & Spreadsheets offerings as part of its Web-based Google Apps.
Sun is expected to make an official announcement regarding the distribution deal Wednesday, at which time we could learn something new such as Dell agreeing to distribute StarOffice as part of its existing Google relationship. Google and Sun could also plan to link StarOffice up to the search company's Web services.
But if not, this could be nothing more than posturing from Sun to promote OpenDocument, and Google bulking up its offline application offering in order to get access to eyeballs on the desktop. If so, we can simply expect another yawn from analysts and industry watchers who know that consumers need more of a reason than that to dump Microsoft Office.
I remember getting StarOffice (ver 5 I think?) when it was free. I have to say it was huge and had more power than I would ever need for my own personal use. It is an awesome program. Still, since it comes from Google in this case I wonder if it will have a self destruct switch in it. :P I'll stay with OpenOffice as it fills all my needs.
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|Downloaded and installed... thanks Google!
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|Sounds too much like "Star Chamber" for my liking.
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|Is staroffice any better than open office for your average home user?
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|Definitely; don't you remember that OO is based off code from a really old copy of Star Office?
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|Actually, they are built off the same code base, with some extras being added in Star Office. Things like support, licensed fonts, clip art, etc...
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|...and much better spelling checkers. OpenOffice's non English spelling checkers are only so-so.
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|Ah so............
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|Corporate = likely to stay with Microsoft Office.
Home Users = potential to change particularly if they need to 'obtain' an office suite.
I know many now running StarOffice/OpenOffice and would be shocked to find out the price of MS Office if they had to go use that.
So whilst anal-ysts (sic) may think it's ho-hum... it's a relatively big deal for home users...
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|Also, Google has been developing their own Linux revision that has plans to go public, and has been in development for a few years now.
Whether Star Office would be integrated...chances are slim, the platform is built widely around Google's web applications.
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|I think it's still a yawn. No one gives a damn about "Star Office", and people are really growing tired of Google's repeated attempts to put ads in your face.
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|No one gives a damn about "Star Office"
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Are you stupid, or just plain ignorant? It's more popular than you think, and it's what OpenOffice is built from...a very early version that is.
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|amazing the denouncement. I bet people were saying the same thing about google in 1999 when it came to their search engine.
My money is on google to start sapping desktop market share from MS in 2009-2010 timeframe.
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|Doubt it. Beside search and gmail, all their products are crap.
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|Great announcement, I would use it over OpenOffice, most certainly.
I just don't want to be forced to get it through GoogleUpdater.
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|The only other way is to pay $70. It's up to you, but I know what I would choose.
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|Not true, if they're gonna have Google distributing a full version, they'll more than likely transition to freeware, or at least charge for use in commercial environments.
It happened when Opera gave free registry keys on it's anniversary, they figured they practically lost hope of generating any more mass profits for it. And if more word gets out about free star office, and the obviousness of how powerful it is over it's practically predecessing OpenOffice counterpart, it will become incredibly popular and Sun would probably give in.
You get the point by now.
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|Ok... I should have added the qualifier "right now," but I thought that was pretty obvious since I wasn't talking about forever and ever.
Here's the corrected statement for your enjoyment:
The only other way right now is to pay $70. It's up to you, but I know what I would choose.
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|An ad-supported version of decrepit Works to compete with a product (Google Pack) that now fits and even exceeds the needs of 95% of computer users? Let me read the tea leaves....
As the article notes, new adopters of the also-ran suites (e.g., WordPerfect) and thus only a dwindling user base over time. Again, let me read the tea leaves....
[Full?] Support for a free StarOffice? How much money is Google willing to throw into that hole (unless this is still only part of a greater scheme...maybe to a full-fledged OS--Google Linux)? Let me read the tea leaves....
Also, it may not be an issue of consumers literally dumping Office, but a slow death of Office due to attrition now that someone offers and backs a viable (FREE!) alternative.
No, this is not mere posturing.
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|I was kinda thinking the same thing.
However, I don't know about them releasing a Google OS, but it is pretty well known that Google uses their own custom versions of several Linux distros for internal use (including Red Hat and Ubuntu).
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|Things like this and the inclusion of PC Tools' Spyware Doctor (sorry, wasn't talking to you PC_Tool) make me recommend this program to people. I especially recommend it to users who are absolutely clueless, reason being that Google Pack also keeps all included programs up to date automatically. That feature is priceless IMO.
Typically, a new product being added to Google Pack wouldn't warrant much interest (especially since the first 12 were available for free previously)...
Correction: the versions of Spyware Doctor and Norton Security Scan (*shudders*) were not available for free until they were included in the Google Pack.
Google and Sun could also plan to link StarOffice up to the search company's Web services.
As far as I know, Google Search is included as an extra toolbar in every Star Office application. I haven't actually seen this yet though, so I could be wrong.
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