The latest edition of Sun Microsystems highly popular multi-platform office productivity suite, StarOffice version 6.0 has been released globally - with the company predicting the software will save users and enterprises up to 75% in licensing costs.
Running on Windows, Linux and Solaris, StarOffice 6.0 provides users with an economical alternative to expensive proprietary office suites that have restricted licensing costs.
With the release of the latest version of StarOffice, Sun has moved the productivity suite to a business model priced on a tiered per-user basis and bundled with value-add support and services, making it more sustainable for the long haul.
However, in support of the ongoing community development process of StarOffice through OpenOffice.org (www. openoffice.org), developers will still be able take advantage of the latest OpenOffice.org versions of the suite at no charge.
Says Stefano Mattiello, managing director of Sun Microsystems SA: "StarOffice 6.0 provides a cost-effective, compatible and open alternative for enterprises and customers looking for substantial savings.
"The more than eight million downloads of previous versions of StarOffice and 4.5 million downloads of OpenOffice.org indicate there is an overwhelming demand for a high-value, low-cost, multi-platform office productivity suite."
StarOffice 6.0 is available in 10 languages and features functionalities such as creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations on the Linux, Solaris and Windows platforms. The software also uses XML-based file format as its default, enabling users to modify and share StarOffice content.
"Version 6.0 is much more promising than 5.2. Sun has removed the desktop and made the interface easier to understand. More importantly, it has improved compatibility with Microsoft Office," comments Michael Silver, analyst at Gartner Group.
StarOffice 6.0 download is immediately available for purchase at www.sun.com/staroffice and will be available globally on 21 May 2002 through major software retailers, software and hardware OEMs.
Mattiello comments that Sun is currently finalising the appointment of a distributor locally. "This will soon be announced. In the meantime, however, SA users can purchase StarOffice via www.sun.com/staroffice."
Currently, over1.8 million users at Fortune 500 companies, from industries such as financial services, retail and manufacturing, as well as government and education markets are evaluating and deploying StarOffice 6.0.
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