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 StarOffice Writer 8 running on Solaris |
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| Developer(s) | Sun Microsystems |
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| Stable release | 9.0 / 17 November 2008 |
| Operating system | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris[1] |
| Type | Office suite |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | sun.com/star |
StarOffice is Sun Microsystems' proprietary office suite software package. It was originally developed by StarDivision and acquired by Sun in August 1999. The source code of the suite was released in July 2000, creating a free, open source office suite called OpenOffice.org; subsequent versions of StarOffice have been based upon OpenOffice.org, with additional proprietary components.[2]
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StarSuite
StarSuite is a version of StarOffice with Asian language localization and includes Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese interface. It also includes additional fonts for the East Asian market, resulting in slightly larger installation footprint. Otherwise the features are identical to StarOffice.
According to Sun, the two brands exist because the StarOffice brand is owned by another company in certain Asian countries.[3] Currently NEC produces StarOffice collaborative software in Japan.[4]
Sun ONE Webtop
Formerly known as project StarPortal, it is a limited release announced in 2001. It is based on StarOffice components.[5]
Features
StarOffice supports the XML file format, including (as of StarOffice 8) the OpenDocument standard, and can generate PDF and Flash formats. The program comes with templates, a macro recorder, and a software development kit (SDK).
Included programs
- StarWriter — word processor .sdw (StarOffice 5.x) .sxw (StarOffice 6.x) .odt .ott -files
- StarCalc — spreadsheet .sdc (5.x) .sxc (6.x) .ods .ots -files
- StarImpress — presentation program .sdd (5.x) .sxi (6.x) .odp .otp -files
- StarDraw — drawing tool .sda (5.x) .sxd (6.x) .odg .otg -files
- StarBase — database .sdb (5.x) .odb -files
- StarMath — formula generator .smf (5.x) .sxm (6.x) .odf -files
Older programs no longer included
- StarSchedule — personal information manager .sds -files
- StarMail — e-mail client
- StarDiscussion — news client
- Web browser - web browser[6][7]
- HTML editor - html editor[6]
Proprietary components
- Several font metric compatible Unicode TrueType fonts containing bitmap representations for better appearance at smaller font sizes
- Twelve Western fonts (including Andale Sans, Arial Narrow, Arial Black, Broadway, Garamond, Imprint MT Shadow, Kidprint, Palace Script, Sheffield) and seven Asian language fonts (including support for the Hong Kong Supplementary character set)
- Adabas D database
- StarOffice-only templates and sample documents
- A large clip art gallery
- Sorting functionality for Asian versions
- File import filters for additional older word-processing formats (including EBCDIC, DisplayWrite, MultiMate, PFS Write, WordStar, WordStar 2000, and XyWrite (conversion filters licensed from MasterSoft))
- A different spell checker (note that OpenOffice.org includes a spell checker as well) and thesaurus
- StarOffice Configuration Manager
- Macro Converter for converting Microsoft Office VBA macros to StarOffice Basic
Other differences
There are also differences in the documentation, training and support options, and some minor differences in the look and icons between the two programs.
Other differences are that StarOffice only supports 12 languages,[8] compared to over 40 for OpenOffice.org.[9]
History
StarOffice was originally developed by the German company StarDivision in Lüneburg, founded by Marco Börries in 1984. They developed the first version of StarWriter for the Zilog Z80 home computer system, the Amstrad CPC (marketed by Schneider in Germany) under CP/M, and later for the Commodore 64 under Microsoft BASIC, which was later ported to the 8086-based Amstrad PC-1512, running under MS-DOS 3.2. Later the integration of the other individual programs followed as the development progressed to an Office Suite for DOS, IBM'S OS/2 Warp, and for Microsoft Windows, which was marketed from then on under the name "StarOffice."
Until version 4.2, StarOffice was based on the cross-platform C++ class library StarView. In 1998 StarDivision began offering StarOffice for free.
The company, copyright and trademark of StarOffice were acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999 for US$73.5 million. Sun was seeking to compete with Microsoft Office, and also wanted to save money on licenses for Microsoft Office and Windows:
- The number one reason why Sun bought StarDivision in 1999 was because, at the time, Sun had something approaching forty-two thousand employees. Pretty much every one of them had to have both a Unix workstation and a Windows laptop. And it was cheaper to go buy a company that could make a Solaris and Linux desktop productivity suite than it was to buy forty-two thousand licenses from Microsoft. (Simon Phipps, Sun, LUGradio podcast.)
StarOffice 1.0
It includes StarWriter compact, StarBase 1.0, StarDraw 1.0.
Supported platforms include DOS.
StarOffice 3.0
It includes StarWriter 3.0, StarCalc 3.0, StarDraw 3.0, StarImage, StarChart.
Supported platforms include DOS, Windows 3.1, OS/2, Solaris Sparc. Power Mac beta support was introduced in 1996.
3.1
Supported platforms include Windows 3.1/95, OS/2 (16-bit), Linux i386, Solaris Sparc/x86, Mac OS 7.5 – 8.0.
StarOffice 4.0
Supported platforms include Windows 3.1/95, OS/2, Linux i386, Solaris Sparc/x86, Mac OS (beta).
StarOffice 5
Supported platforms include Windows 95/NT 3.51, OS/2, Linux i386, Solaris Sparc/x86.
5.1
Supported platforms include Windows 95, OS/2, Linux i386, Solaris Sparc/x86.
5.2
Sun offered StarOffice 5.2 as a free download for personal use, and soon went through an exercise similar to Netscape's relicensing of Mozilla, by releasing most of the StarOffice source code under a free/open source license. The resultant free/open source software codebase is developed as OpenOffice.org, and is contributed to by both Sun and the wider OpenOffice.org community. Sun then takes a "snapshot" of the OpenOffice.org code base, integrates proprietary and third-party code modules, and markets the package commercially.
Supported platforms include Windows 95, Linux i386, Solaris Sparc/x86.
StarOffice 6
It is based on OpenOffice.org 1.0.
Supported platforms include Windows 95, Linux i386, Solaris Sparc/x86. OpenOffice.org version also supports Windows ME/2000 for Asian/CJK versions, generic Linux 2.2.13 with glibc2 2.1.3, Solaris 7 SPARC (8 for Asian version).
StarOffice 7
It is based on OpenOffice.org 1.1.
Supported platforms include Windows 98, Linux i386, Solaris 8 Sparc/x86. OpenOffice.org version also supports generic Linux with Glibc 2.2.0, Mac OS X 10.2 for PowerPC with X11 in OOO 1.1.2.
Product Update 5 added Windows NT 4.0 supported platform, OpenDocument file format support.
Product Updates 6-8 are based on OpenOffice.org 2.1. OOO version added support of Mac OS X 10.3 for PowerPC, Mac OS X 10.4 for x86.
Product Updates 9-11 are based on OpenOffice.org 2.2. New features include enhanced Windows Vista integration, PDF export.
Product Update 12 is based on OpenOffice.org 2.4. OOO version added support of Linux x86-64, Linux MIPS, Linux S390, Mac OS X x86/PPC above 10.4. New features include improved input and sorting in Calc, block markings in text documents, new import filter, improved security, access to WebDAV servers via HTTPS, PDF export for long-term archiving.
StarOffice 8
In September 2005, Sun released StarOffice 8, adding support for the OpenDocument standard and a number of improvements (based on the code of OpenOffice.org 2.0).[10]
It is based on OpenOffice.org 2.0.
Supported platforms include Windows 98/2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher), Linux i386, Solaris 8 Sparc/x86. OpenOffice.org version also supports generic Linux 2.2.13 with glibc2 2.2.0, Mac OS X 10.4 in OOO 2.0.3 with X11.
Product Updates 2-5 are based on OpenOffice.org 2.1. OOO version added support of Mac OS X 10.3 for PowerPC, Mac OS X 10.4 for x86.
Product Updates 6-7 are based on OpenOffice.org 2.2. New features include enhanced Windows Vista integration, PDF export.
Product Updates 8-9 are based on OpenOffice.org 2.3. New features include bookmark support for PDF export, MediaWiki export in Writer.
Product Updates 10-11 are based on OpenOffice.org 2.4. OOO version added support of Linux x86-64, Linux MIPS, Linux S390, Mac OS X x86/PPC above 10.4. New features include improved input and sorting in Calc, block markings in text documents, new import filter, improved security, access to WebDAV servers via HTTPS, PDF export for long-term archiving.
StarOffice 9
StarOffice 9 was released in November 2008, adding support for version 1.2 of the OpenDocument standard and Microsoft Office 2007 files and a number of other improvements.[11]
It is based on OpenOffice.org 3.0.
Supported platforms include Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher), Mac OS X 10.4 (Intel version), Linux 2.4 i386 with glibc2 version 2.3.2 or higher, gtk version 2.2.0 or higher, Solaris 10 for Sparc/x86. OOO version supports Mac OS X PPC, generic Linux platforms.
Product Update 1 is based on OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, which adds improved extension manager, but requires extensions in the new format
Pricing and licensing
Traditionally, StarOffice licenses have been sold for around US$70, but in 2004, Sun planned to offer subscription-based licenses to Japanese customers for about 1,980 JPY (17 USD) per year (Becker, 2004). P. Ulander, a desktop products manager for Sun, acknowledged that Sun planned to expand subscription-based licenses to other countries as well. As of January 2009, StarOffice is available on Sun's website for US$34.95.[12]
Sun uses a per-person license for StarOffice, compared to the per-device licenses used for most proprietary software. An individual is allowed to install the software on up to five computers. For example, a small business owner can have the software on his laptop, office and home computers, or a user with a computer running Microsoft Windows, and another running Linux, can install StarOffice on both computers.
Sun offers educational licensing to academic institutions and individuals for the cost of the media or of a download. They also offer free web-based Training and an online tutorial for students and teachers, free support services for teachers including educational templates for StarOffice, and significantly discounted technical support for schools.
From August 2007[13][14] to November 2008, Google offered StarOffice 8 as part of its free downloadable Google Pack application.[15][16][17]
Free on Solaris
Users of the Solaris 11 Express Community Edition recieve StarOffice 9 for free as part of the OS. This may be an indication that StarOffice 9 will be a free part of Solaris 11 when it is finally released to the public, replacing StarOffice 8 which is received for free as part of Solaris 10. OpenSolaris users who register their OS with Sun have the ability to download the Express Community Edition for free. This means that OpenSolaris users can then use the pkgadd command to manually install StarOffice 9 from the Solaris Express DVD into OpenSolaris and not have to pay for it. This also would not constitute theft or illegal copying since the user receives the copy directly from Sun and the license allows installing it on up to five computers. However the information on the Solaris 11 DVD could not be used to install StarOffice onto any other OS. In order to be able to install StarOffice 9 onto Linux, Mac OSX, or Windows legally, one would need to purchase the software.
See also
References
- ^ Sun Microsystems, Inc.. "StarOffice - Tech Specs". http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/specs.jsp. Retrieved on 2008-11-17.
- ^ OpenOffice.org. "OpenOffice.org - FAQ - Overview". http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/faq-overview.html. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ FAQs for StarOffice Software
- ^ NEC StarOffice page
- ^ Sun Announces Sun ONE Webtop, Developer Release Technology for Open Web Services
- ^ a b Hall, Michael (2000-05-16). "Suites for the Sweet: StarOffice 5.2 - StarOffice and the Internet: Mail, News, and Web". LinuxPlanet. http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/1844/4/. Retrieved on 2009-01-19.
- ^ "Star Division StarOffice 5.0 Personal Edition". 5x5media.com [Originally printed in The Computer Paper (March 1999)]. http://5x5media.com/eye/tech/staroff.php. Retrieved on 2009-01-19.
- ^ "StarOffice 9 (Electronic Download)". Online Store. Sun Microsystems, Inc.. http://globalspecials.sun.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayProductDetailsPage&SiteID=sunstor&productID=109370100. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ "OpenOffice.org - Projects - Native Language Confederation Project". Sun Microsystems. http://projects.openoffice.org/native-lang.html. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ Sun Microsystems, Inc. (2005-09-27). Sun Introduces New Version of StarOffice Software. Press release. http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2005-09/sunflash.20050927.1.xml. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ Cohen, Peter (2008-11-17). "Sun offers Mac-native StarOffice 9 suite". Macworld. http://www.macworld.com/article/136869/2008/11/staroffice.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-17.
- ^ "Get StarOffice Software". Sun Microsystems, Inc.. http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/get.jsp. Retrieved on 2009-01-16.
- ^ Sun Microsystems, Inc. (2007-08-15). Sun Microsystems Announces StarOffice Software Suite to be Distributed Through Google Pack. Press release. http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2007-08/sunflash.20070815.1.xml. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ Webb, Bill (2007-08-20). "Google Sneaks StarOffice 8 Into Google Pack". Lockergnome. http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2007/08/20/google-staroffice-free/. Retrieved on 2008-11-10.
- ^ Agarwal, Amit (2008-11-06). "Free StarOffice Removed from Google Pack". Digital Inspiration. http://www.labnol.org/internet/free-staroffice-removed-from-google-pack/5260/. Retrieved on 2008-11-10.
- ^ Collins, Barry (2008-11-10). "PC Pro: News: StarOffice dropped from Google Pack". PC Pro. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/235332/staroffice-dropped-from-google-pack.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-10.
- ^ Skinner, Carrie-Ann (2008-11-10). "StarOffice dumped from free Google Pack". PC Advisor. http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=106863. Retrieved on 2008-11-10.
External links
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