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StarOffice Dropped From Google Pack
Barence writes "Sun's StarOffice suite has been mysteriously dropped from the Google Pack of free software. The office suite has been axed without any warning or explanation on the Google site. Is Google trying to drive more people towards its own online suite of office applications? Or has it been stung into action by Steve Ballmer's recent comment that Microsoft Office faces stronger competition from StarOffice than it does Google Docs and Spreadsheet?"
...It's use the frothing rants of Steve Ballmer as the basis of my business strategy.
The answer might be obvious to the people involved in the project, but as an external observer I'm left to wonder why they were using StarOffice in the first place. Why not OpenOffice?
"Or has it been stung into action by Steve Ballmer's recent comment that Microsoft Office faces stronger competition from StarOffice than it does Google Docs and Spreadsheet?"
:)
Didn't Balmer just recently claim that Android is nothing to worry about? I have the feeling Balmer likes Google. I wonder what search engine he uses by the way.
I am the lawn!
Sooner or later they'll face the consequences. Revenge doesn't solve anything, unless you're having problems starting a World War III.
Google Apps. Google's only obligation since becoming a publicly traded company (GOOG) is this...
Making a profit for shareholders
Including StarOffice does nothing to that end.
Honestly why is anyone surprised when Google acts like a real company?
When an enterprise deploys office software they want at least some kind of support from the vendor.
was google PAYING sun for (the commercially licensed) staroffice? perhaps this is just the first step in replacing staroffice with (the free) openoffice to eliminate that (unnecessary) expense.
note that staroffice 8 is also over three years old (derived from openoffice 2.0), compared to openoffice 3, which was recently released... google could simply be moving to openoffice to stay more current with the software.
but i wouldn't put it past 'em to be removing it completely in order to drive users to their (less capable) web applications; as the article suggests. if they do not actually replace staroffice with another offline equivalent (e.g. openoffice), though, there may be some user backlash.
is that we begin right away with the baseless speculation about which of many conspiracies is responsible for this omission. God forbid someone email someone at Google, or wait until they make a blog post or something.
How in the first place could have been staroffice included in "Google Pack of free software" when it's proprietary?
Modern industry is held together by custom scripts.
I use a text editor, sc and awk; YMMV. Most people seem to use Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office which discounts your theory entirely.
Wrong although I can't disagree completely, Vista does suck!
Says the AC commenting on Slashdot..
Maybe Google are removing a competitor to their own office applications because... they are a competitor to their own office applications.
In order for Google to make any kind of inroads into Microsoft's customer base, they have to convince people that online apps are just as viable as their offline counterparts. So providing an offline office suite in the Google Pack - ostensibly to keep the doubters happy - might be considered by some to be an admission that Google Docs won't do the job.
Staroffice is ok, but openoffice is a newer build now with more features.
Maybe when they release the next version of staroffice I might use it again.
Google should develop a really good plugin for OpenOffice.org that makes it a client for Google Docs. It should handle uploading, downloading, synchronizing, merging conflicts, etc. That would scare MS off a lot more, and it would actually make both OOo and Google Docs more useful.
Forget about StarOffice, axe Norton Security Scan. I am wondering why they are having anything to do with Norton who makes the most bloated, resource wasting, performance sucking, software on the planet. There are better solutions out there that don't kill the usability of your computer.
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" Franklin
I think you have it wrong in claiming that Norton is the most bloated resource hogging software. My top 3 hogs were:
1) iTunes
2) Outlook
3) Norton AV
Since I stopped running windows for day to day things, I don't really notice any bloat-ware ... although my video editor does slow 1 entire core down as it runs. But that's expected. iTunes and Outlook don't have a good excuse.
When I'm away from my own computer, I rarely, if ever, type anything in whatever's installed on the computer I'm on. It's almost always a quick log in to Google Docs.
I like online software. I like it a lot.
I would much rather see OpenOffice 3.0 put into the Google Pack.
How were they giving it away in the first place? If you go to Sun's website and try to download Star Office normally, it's $70. So how was Google able to give it away for free, and why isn't "sun wanted cash" a possible explanation for Google dropping the product?
Used Firefox or Thunderbird recently?
/ \
\ / ASCII ribbon campaign for peace
x
/ \
What do you think OpenOffice is written in ?? BASIC ? Perl ? Intercal ?
(Hint : it uses this esoteric language that has a name that starts with C and ends with ++)
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
>Google trying to drive more people towards its own online suite of office applications?
Google apps are pretty damn good now. I use them all the time. I'll take "can access it from anywhere without installing any software" over hardcore features any day of the week.
They also have built in collaboration. Star Office is kind of redundant. Then again I'm just a "normal" person with regard to Office products. As a software engineer, my requirements for an office product set the bar pretty low.
An accountant, or other financial business professional, will most likely find the software not quite delivering what they need in a spreadsheet etc. application. Then again, they'd also probably find Star Office lacking.
-Viz
Don't kid yourself. It's the size of the regexp AND how you use it that counts.
Java?
Expect Google Pack to have Chrome and desktop hotlinks to launch Chromeified desktop versions of Google Apps.
Java?
Not especially. You can write extensions in a number of languages. Java is used in a few peripheral tools such as the database glue layers. The core stuff is C++.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
At least they removed the icons altogether rather then just linking them to Google Docs...
How were they giving it away in the first place? If you go to Sun's website and try to download Star Office normally, it's $70. So how was Google able to give it away for free, and why isn't "sun wanted cash" a possible explanation for Google dropping the product?
Don't bring logic into this, that way leads only to madness.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
I like online software. I like it a lot.
Enough to pay $$$ for a mobile phone data plan that allows laptop tethering?
Could we change the title of the site to "FUD for Nerds?"
You're freaking slashdot. Pick up the freaking phone and call google and ask them. A whole bunch of nerds would like to know; get us a damn answer.
It's because they also included Java in the Google Pack.
See here: http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/sun_toolbar.html
"Under the agreement, Sun will include the Google Toolbar as an option in its consumer downloads of the Java Runtime Environment on http://java.com./ In addition, the companies have agreed to explore opportunities to promote and enhance Sun technologies, like the Java Runtime Environment and the OpenOffice.org productivity suite available at http://www.openoffice.org./"
To add to that, if you are a 'student or work in Education' you can also download it from free here: http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/solutions/staroffice.html#StarOffice
Interesting - I'd never before heard of an office software package written in the form of an eBay comment. That idiom seems more natural for a shell, with "Would do business again" acting as the input listener.
Well of course MS is facing stronger competition from StarOffice. After all it is a full featured office package. Google Docs and Spreadsheet are neat, but nothing beats having all the features an office suite provides.
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
Ya, for about 5 minutes. The attention span of a typical user today is a 30 minute sitcom.
Give it a couple of weeks and people will forget it was even an option.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Here's why!
Microsoft Signs MSN Toolbar Deal With Sun
Google caught wind of a Microsoft/Sun deal.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
In addition, if you Google around a bit or know where to look, you can find the URL to download Google StarOffice directly without having to download the Google Pack/install Google Updater.
The setup file is still downloadable at that location, BTW, despite the fact that it is not mentioned on the Google Pack page any longer nor does Google Updater recognize it as a Google Pack app. So if you STILL want it...
-- Nathan
...as I point out here.
-- Nathan
It's fine to go off and develop your own office suite and pull someone else's from one of your packages.
But doing it in secret with no information about when or why? Totally evil.
IMO Google's main flaw is their lack of support and closed mouth policy about their decisions.
Sun just signed an agreement to distribute the MS Search bar with it's java download http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/10/sun_stows_ms_search_on_java/ I would guess this has a lot to do with Google not promoting the StarOffice suite anymore.
In particular, Sun Microsystems licensed information about the format of Office files from Microsoft, to gain better compatibility.
No. Both Open- and Star- Office use their own MS-Office readers. (I was under the impression that some of the work on wvWare has helped developing OOo's but I'm not sure. I might be confusing with antiword). Nothing licensed from Microsoft.
3rd party non-OSS code was used to provide a reader for WordPerfect's Office suite.
StarOffice uses a 3rd party closed source reader.
Whereas OOo has more recently incorporated the function thank to a separate opensource project (libwpd if my memory still works).
Given the fact that WordPerfect had an important share in some specific markets (international organisations), and that in the beginning OOo still lacked official support for it, it might have made more sense to Google to opt for StarOffice instead.
Note:
In a similar fashion, StarOffice feature 3rd party proprietary support for Grammar check.
Whereas Language Tool is developed for OOo.
Given that LanguageTool still isn't part of stock OOo, this too may have weighted in favor of StarOffice.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
REDMOND, Wash. -- Nov. 10, 2008 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced a search distribution deal with Sun Microsystems Inc. to offer the MSN Toolbar, powered by Microsoft Live Search, to U.S.-based Internet Explorer users when they download the Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE(TM)), effective as of today.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/nov08/11-10LiveJREMPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases
Conclusion: Sun stopped paying.
Other obvious paid inclusions are the Norton and Realplayer malware.
Balmer is a quack who ranks up there with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/10/sun_stows_ms_search_on_java/
Actually it is slower than MSOffice because MSFT cheats. They have always used cheats,and probably always will. Now I don't have the latest version so I don't know the name of the newest file,but in MSOffice 2K it is OSA9.EXE and it is OSA11.EXE in 2K3 IIRC. This hidden "helper executable" loads at startup and runs constantly to make MSOffice load quicker. Kill that process,reboot,and you'll find that there really isn't much difference on speed.
Of course if you want to increase speed on OO.o they have their own quickstart which will run all the time and speed up OO.o,and if you Yahoo "Open Office memory tweaks"(I don't care for Google Search) you'll find there are several memory tweaks that will speed up OO.o by quite a lot. And as a PC repairman I have to agree wholeheartedly with the Vista suckfest. I am so sick of seeing folks with sub $600 laptops wanting rid of Vista. Even with WinME I didn't see as many folks wanting downgrades as I do with Vista.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Has anyone seen the google pack? You get all sorts of lovely applications like:
Real Player - Spyware
Adobe Acrobat Reader - Bloatware
Norton Security Scan - This one defies all defintion
You can't honestly tell me a single slashdotter would use this crap.
I used Microsoft Word, 7 years ago. It was much more powerful then than Open Office is now. Google Docs is hopeless; it can't even read a sophisticated .doc file correctly.
Word can do things like a color gradient side border with rotated text that are hideously difficult or impossible with other editors.
I'm trying to make a sharp-looking resume. I am continually frustrated in my efforts by Open Office. I can't put text where I want it, I can't put horizontal lines where I want them, I can't get font sizes to print as they look on the screen (or to print or display the same size as Word prints and displays the same TrueType font.) I'm going to have to buy the Microsoft product to get the results I want, and that displeases me. Some employers require resumes in Word format, and the Open Office .doc format output doesn't always work.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
What do you think OpenOffice is written in ?? BASIC ? Perl ? Intercal ?
(Hint : it uses this esoteric language that has a name that starts with C and ends with ++)
give you a hint, you aint got a clue either. it Starts with a J and stinks of sun (though a little less nowadays).
Well, apparently not content with screwing over the OO.o community, and reducing it's commitment; cf.
http://www.gnome.org/~michael/blog/ooo-commit-stats-2008.html
it has apparently lost it's biggest distributor
Some integration is already possible as is.
http://plan-b-for-openoffice.org/calc/topic/open-google-spreadsheet
http://plan-b-for-openoffice.org/calc/topic/download-and-open-google-spreadsheet
Busy helping non technical users of OpenOffice.org - http://plan-b-for-openoffice.org/