Ximian to Bundle StarOffice 6.0

rainmanjag writes "A Ximian press release is reporting that Ximian will be bundling StarOffice 6.0 for Linux with the packaged version of Ximian Desktop Professional, Red Carpet Express, and Red Carpet CorporateConnect." This means that both Ximian and Mandrakesoft are offering comprehensive software bundles which happen to include StarOffice 6.0, a package which would otherwise cost more by itself than either of the bundles.

Comments

Re:i know its been said before...

[Surak]

StarOffice includes templates, fonts and clipart that OOo doesn't.

....sooo....you just take the template fonts and clipart from your StarOffice 6.0 beta (which was free for all takers) and put them into your OpenOffice 1.0 setup. :)

Seriously, someone ought to put together an Open Sourced set of templates, fonts, clipart, etc. And no I did NOT just volunteer! Stop looking at me like that! :P

On a related note...

[Platinum Dragon]

OpenOffice 1.0 is available through Red Carpet.

List of differences between OO and SO

[mgkimsal2]

This seems to happen everytime there's a story about openoffice.org or staroffice. Here's a list of the major points:

1. StarOffice 6 is released and costs $75.95/seat.
2. StarOffice 6 and OpenOffice.org are built from the same codebase
3. StarOffice 6 includes niceties and extras that OpenOffice.org doesn't include (many templates, nice clipart, a manual, and a database component)

If you need to do basic stuff, OpenOffice.org will be just fine. If you want to a database tool to go along with your office suite, you'd need StarOffice 6.

Buyer beware

[mgkimsal2]

Beware that if you want to be productive in an 'office suite' sense (exchanging documents with others, etc), not in a 'I write C code all day' sense, you might need to offend some GPL/FSF zealot's idea of how you should operate your computer.

Re:Buyer beware

[_Sprocket_]

...you might need to offend some GPL/FSF zealot's idea of how you should operate your computer.

Its a good point. In today's environment, one often has to make trade offs with what technology works the best. However, the concern for Freedom shouldn't be only the concern of zealots.

The IT industry is full of examples; proprietary, closed technology best bennifits the producers of that technology. And sometimes that bennifit comes at the expense of their customers - those who are using / implementing that technology. Which... oddly enough... affects the cost of that infrastructure.

Freedom is not simply about cost. It is about end users and businesses being able to choose solutions that best fit their needs. And the ability to change and shift that infrastructure as needed. This task is only complicated when a vendor's business-plan-driven incompatability has to be accounted for.

It is still pretty common to find that one's infrastructure will consist of Free and proprietary solutions. But it is still a very good idea to be aware of which are which and what limitations are involved with each.

What's the database stuff like?

[wirefarm]

Anyone have any experience with the database components?

(This is the first I've heard of the database part...)

That part, if it's done well, would be worth the money to me - my office has people using Access databases that I would love to convert over to to StarOffice (connected to MySQL or Postgres) if I could.

Also, if I 'upgrade' people to StarOffice, how tough/legal is it to sell off the MS Office licenses? Assuming we have a bunch of individually-purchased copies...)

Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo

Koffice

[DeadBugs]

Am I the only one who likes KOffice?
Try it if you don't want to shell out money for Staroffice or want a great alternative to Openoffice. I have been using it for about a year and although still limited compared to MS Office I like it alot. Here's what it comes with:

KWord - A frame-based word processor

KSpread - spreadsheet application.

KPresenter - full-featured presentation program.

Kivio - Visio®-style flowcharting application.

Kontour - vector drawing application.

Krita - raster-based image manipulation program

Kugar - tool for generating business quality reports.

Kchart - ntegrated graph and chart drawing tool. Sorry I am also one of those who thinks "screw diversity". Linux should rally behind a few key projects, instead of several projects trying to re-invent the wheel

Re:Koffice

[bcrowell]

Well, the good news is that KOffice includes some stuff, like Kontour, that isn't available in open-source form anywhere else. The bad news is that the KOffice developers are spread way too thin. For instance, their link to the Kontour documentation is broken, and an e-mail asking where it had gotten to resulted in no response. I'm not trying to put them down, but they just don't seem to have enough people to keep everything going. Another example: at the address where they used to have KSpell, I recently found a porn site instead. This time I happened to know the developer, and how to get in touch with him. Again, it's not an issue of blame -- he's a great guy -- but it just shows that they might have bitten off more than they can chew. And then there's the issue of the Qt licensing. I hate to dig out this hoary old chestnut, but it really is a problem. I'm not trying to be ideologically purer than anyone else, but it's just not free software.

Re:Koffice

[SwellJoe]

Yep, I love KOffice. I don't even use KDE on my desktop, but KWord is simply the bee's knees. I am wholly addicted to the frame-based word processor concept, and now feel lost without it. Whenever I use AbiWord (which is also very nice these days) I feel kind of disoriented without frames and the overall 'feel' of KWord. I have never used a frame-based WP in the past, and so it certainly isn't just "what I'm used to"...I really think it is a better model than the Word/WordPerfect/StarOffice/everybody else except Adobe word processor.

Anyway, I agree. KOffice is highly underappreciated, and very competent in quite a few areas. It is still flaky in a lot more places than I like, but I do all of my labels, invoices, PDF brochures, and a lot of other stuff in KWord, and it really produces lovely output.

StarOffice is neat too, but I'm done with the Microsoft Office style of doing things...I just feel sluggish and confused when using those apps, and the popup light-bulb doesn't improve things.

Re:Koffice

[1010011010]

Not available anywhere else?

How about SodiPodi?

Re:Um, who cares?

[RevAaron]

I don't plan on it either. I use LaTeX and I dig it. But that doesn't solve the same problem as these Office suites do. Sure, everyone can read and print a PDF, but what about edit it, and send a revised version back to you? LaTeX savy people can work from your source document, yes, but most normal Office-users wouldn't have the slightest clue what to do with a LaTeX file.

I have Office v.X installed, because there are times when I need to do just this. You'd be surprised, even among CS profs, how few people know LaTeX enough to feel comfy editing your drafts written in it.

Also, there's no way to do something like a spreadsheet with LaTeX. However, in lambdaTeX or Scribe (in Scheme) something like this could be done, and for that reason, I plan on moving to Scribe eventually (over LaTeX). It can generate PDF, HTML and PS just like LaTeX, but has a more familiar (s-exp) syntax, and has a much more powerful language behind it, for doing calculations within your document. That said, I'd also welcome a LaTeX preprocessor that could do something similar... For instance:

\begin{worksheet}{c|c|c|c}
\hline
Name & Beer Drunk & Milk Drunk & Total Liquids \\
Me & 10 L & 12 L & \add{\cell{B2},
\cell{C2}} \\
You & 14 L & 2 L & \add{\cell{B3},
\cell{C3}} \\
\end{worksheet}

and so on... ugly as hell in LaTeX, but in something Lisplike, it could be a lot nicer-

(worksheet "c|c|c|c"
(hline)
Name & Beer Drunk & Milk Drunk & Total Liquids \\
Me & 10 L & 12 L & (+ B2 C2) \\
You & 14 L & 2 L & (+ B3 C3) \\
)

Man, that'd rule.

Re:Diffrence

[Tony-A]

Is Star Office that much better than open office.org? Or is it just the name/image thing?
Better, maybe. But that's not the fundamental difference. If there's a problem with Star Office, it's Sun's problem. If there's a problem with Open Office, it's the user's problem. This doesn't mean that Sun can or will fix any problems faster than Open Office. It's just where the ultimate responsibility lies. If I'm a PHB, I will buy Star Office. If I'm a crafty PHB, I will buy Star Office, download Open Office, and use whatever seems to work best.

Re:Diffrence

[SteelX]

Ah, the eternal question about StarOffice/OpenOffice.org differences. According to OpenOffice.org's FAQ, the differences are as follows:

The source code available at OpenOffice.org does not consist of all of the StarOffice code. Usually, the reason for this is that Sun pays to license third party code to include in StarOffice that which it does not have permission to make available in OpenOffice.org. Those things which are or will be present in StarOffice but are not available on OpenOffice.org include:

• Certain fonts (including, especially, Asian language fonts)
• The database component (Adabas D)
• Some templates
• Extensive Clip Art Gallery
• Some sorting functionality (Asian versions)
• Certain file filters

In addition, Sun also has a FAQ that says:

StarOffice 6.0 softwre is a commercial product aimed at organizations and consumers while OpenOffice.org 1.0 is aimed at users of free software, independent developers and the open source community. StarOffice includes licensed-in, third-party technology such as:

• Spellchecker and thesaurus
  
• Database component (Software AG Adabas D).
  
• Select fonts including Windows metrically equivalent fonts and Asian language fonts
  
• Select filters, including WordPerfect filters and Asian word processor filters
  
• Integration of additional templates and extensive clipart gallery
  

In addition to product differences, StarOffice offers:

• Updates/upgrades on CD
• Sun installation and user documentation
• 24x7 Web based support for enterprises and consumers
• Help desk support
  
• Warranties and indemnification guarantee
• Training
• Professional services for migration and deployment

Hope it helps!

Good

[theolein]

This is called adding value. It's what MS did to gain it's market dominance (with one or two other tactics which I won't mention here) and it's about time. Good on Ximian, Sun, OpenOffice.org and Mandrake. Good on them all.