Aside from the direct financial benefit of the sale, the presence in China is a major window of opportuninty for Sun. 1,000,000 users is adequate financial justification to establish a strong support and sales presence which will aid signficantly in further sales.
I wonder how much the issue of locale support factored into this decision. While China seems to be pursuing non-Microsoft sourcing for their own reasons, it is possible that the Sun environment and StarOffice provide better support for Chinese locale considerations above MS and/or other vendors.
Aside from the direct financial benefit of the sale, the presence in China is a major window of opportuninty for Sun. 1,000,000 users is adequate financial justification to establish a strong support and sales presence which will aid signficantly in further sales. I wonder how much the issue of locale support factored into this decision. While China seems to be pursuing non-Microsoft sourcing for their own reasons, it is possible that the Sun environment and StarOffice provide better support for Chinese locale considerations above MS and/or other vendors.