By Kate Hanaghan, 16 May 2002 16:45
NEWS Sun is turning-up the heat on Microsoft with the imminent launch of its latest version of StarOffice. The StarOffice 6.0 suite, which until recently was free, is being touted as the low cost alternative to Microsoft's Office. The product, which contains word processing, spreadsheets, presentation and database applications, will be officially launched on 21 May. The packaging on the retail version says: "Sure, you can pay hundreds of dollars for an office productivity suite. But why?" - a statement which has enraged Microsoft. Microsoft has hit back, warning there are hidden costs to the software, which will retail for £52.99. Mike Pryke-Smith, desktop applications group marketing manager at Microsoft, told silicon.com: "Customers need to look at the value a product provides rather than the cost. It's a risky strategy to move across to another product." He pointed to the cost of training-up staff to use a different software suite and file compatibility issues which might reduce productivity. Gartner Group has said StarOffice has a good chance of gaining a 10 per cent share in the desktop productivity market by 2004. Jonathan Mills, software product marketing manager at Sun, said: "It's not as high on features as Office XP but we're way up there on the cost savings. It gives you choice and doesn't lock you into a proprietary solution." This latest version of StarOffice runs on Windows, Linux and Solaris and is compatible with Microsoft Office. Corporate pricing for StarOffice 6.0 will be £38 per seat for 250 users and £19.78 per seat for 10,000 users. Schools won't have to pay anything for the licence. Sun purchased the creator of StarOffice, StarDivision, for $73.5m in August 1999. There is a similar version of StarOffice, without certain features held under licence by Sun available free at http://www.openoffice.org
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