“Sun Microsystems Inc.’s decision to start charging users for its upcoming StarOffice 6.0 desktop office productivity suite is coming at a price: Linux sales and service company Red Hat Inc. has decided not to use StarOffice 6.0 in any of its distributions going forward. Red Hat is a leading distributor of Linux desktop and server software, and its rejection of StarOffice 6.0 cuts out a major Linux distribution channel for Sun and comes just as the company prepares to release the Office product later this month.” Read the rest of the report
at ExtremeTech.
Red Hat to Drop StarOffice 6
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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they bought Star Office becasue the company uses it for their desktops as an office suite and Star was going out of business.
they open source it, let the OSS hackors manage the base packages, then integrate their tools.
Sun is not realy losing that much on a product that was origionaly intended as internal use.
All the linux kiddies are crying about having to PAY for GOOD software. When will these morons realise that developing software costs a fuck load of money…
I for one will buy a copy just to show my support – even though the Sparc version will be available for free. Sun is going through some hard times and it needs community support. I hope that all Solaris users, the ones that use it because it’s a good os not because they have to, will buy StartOffice media kits and Solaris 9 media kits when they come out.
</rant>
Nobody uses RedHat anyway do they?
“All the linux kiddies are crying about having to PAY for GOOD software. When will these morons realise that developing software costs a fuck load of money… ”
Of course, you’re right. To use SO6, people would actually have to PAY for it, but this sort of thing seems to be forbidden in the Linux world, since everybody knows that all software should be free anyway
Redhat 7.2 is a very cool OS.
Now with OpenOffice.org 1.0 there is no need to charge more for the Sun version of OpenOffice. Most people will just download OpenOffice any way.
ciao
yc
It seems that Sun is charging for StarOffice to give it an air of legitamacy to corporate users. Most managers will assume that something that is free is no good without bothering to try it.
For the rest of us, Sun is supporting OpenOffice, which is essentially the same thing.
I think this makes a lot of sense and is a good plan for Sun to make headway in the office productivity department.
I’ll be sad not to see StarOffice in the next release of Red Hat. I use Red Hat.
I guess I’m unique among Linux users that I’ll pay for good software. I still own a copy of WordPerfect 8 for Linux!
I like the fact that Linux itself is free, as are all the GNU tools, it makes for a nice base system. But i dont think that all software for linux should be free. I would not mind paying for a good office suite which works well, as long as it is for my processor (DEC Alpha). Thats the only reason that i’m worried about commercial software for linux. As long as the company is ready to take responsibility for porting their to other processors (C is portable, or so the C-Zealots will have you think) and selling them when requested. I’d pay for SO6, I used an older version a while ago and it was really good, I wouldn’t mind having to pay for it at all.
> linux kiddies are crying
> about having to PAY for GOOD
> software. When will these
> morons realise that developing
> software costs a fuck
> load of money…
Hu? And windows daddies PAY for software?
How much of the software YOU or anybody else uses is paid for? If we all paid for most or all of the software we use, very few people would be able to afford a computer.
If I remember correctly, as much as 43% of the software used in British schools are illegal. I think that must actually be a conservative estimate.
Also, most white-box computer vendors in North America don’t install licenced copies of Windows, or Office, (or anything else for that matter). That’s the only way they can compete with Dell. If they paid MS for every windows machine they sold, they wouldn’t be in business. The same goes for a LOT of companies using Windows.
Fact is: Only very few people buy copies of windows from the shelf. A few others get the licence from trademarked products like Dell, and very many just copy, borrow or steal from elsewhere.
> I’ll be sad not to see
> StarOffice in the next
> release of Red Hat. I use Red Hat.
> I guess I’m unique among
> Linux users that I’ll pay
> for good software.
So what’s the problem then? Must the program be on the Redhat CD before you can use it? Just download your next RedHat, buy your linux version of StarOffice from Sun, and install it on your redhat machine. That’s what you do on your windows systems, no?
Redhat virtually gives their products away for Free, and if Sun is charging for the product, Redhat may not be able to afford to pay Sun for something they will have to give away. As it is, they are still struggling to survive. All you anti-linux people should get real.
Red Hat’s policy is so clear you’d think even journalists (Hi Eugenia) could understand it, but apparently not.
No more non-free software in Red Hat Linux. Some legacy apps (most famously Netscape 4.x) were grandfathered in when this decision was taken but they are deprecated and will eventually be removed altogether. Red Hat’s destiny, like Debian’s is intimately connected to the future of Free Software.
RMS Linux (Red Hat Means Source) wasn’t just a publicity stunt, it was part of a corporate stance, you can trust Red Hat because they are completely open about what you’re buying. This contrasts well with other commercial Linux vendors who have a mixed story with some Free Software “Four legs good” and some Proprietary Software “Two legs better”
So that means you can expect OpenOffice.org and Mozilla to have a fabulous relationship with Red Hat, but Netscape and Star Office will have to remain at arms length, as an option for those who really want them.
I don’t mind paying for good software. Infact I wend out and bought Suse 7.3 when it came out instead of downloading it off my high speed internet. But what I do mind paying it outrageous prices for terrible software. I will fork over money for Suse 8.0 just to support the developers, yet I will not buy another version of Microsoft because of their business tactics.
“No more non-free software in Red Hat Linux.”
Huh? So I take it this means that Red Hat is dropping their Enterprise edition and their Oracle special edition and such?
This seems like a stupid thing to do if you ask me. The only way Linux vendors will stay in business is by bundling value added features with their Linux distros. Otherwise why buy the official distro when I can get the same thing from CheapBytes for $1.95?
As an ex-Red Hatter, I can definitely understand why they are chosing not to include StarOffice in the distribution:
It limits the ability of people to freely distribute the software.
Red Hat counts a great deal on people giving Red Hat CD’s to friends and collegues, with that “grass roots” efforts driving up sales. I give out ISO’s and make CD’s of Red Hat Linux (the free bits) to a lot of people to try, myself, and a great deal of those people end up buying either the current or next release of Red Hat Linux.
With OpenOffice now at 1.0, Red Hat can include that on their CD’s as a freely-redistributable office suite, which adds MORE value, IMHO, than including StarOffice.
If a business or individual is going to want the support that Sun provides for StarOffice, then they will have no problem paying for it. (I assume that Sun’s pricing will not be totally insane.)
Ken
To answer your question of how much software people buy – I can only speak for my self:
Solaris 7 for x86
Solaris 8 (multiple revs) for Sparc
Multiple games
OS/2 Warp (When I was into that kind of thing
)
That extra memmory thingie for dos cant remember the name 386 something or another … man I’m getting old…
Netscape when it was for commercial software
Some sort of C compiler for DOS
Cant remember the rest couple things..
Point being – any one who’s not a complete dork will buy software that they like and use.
For the record – I’ve never bought anything from or associated with microsoft.
>>>>>>
Hu? And windows daddies PAY for software?
How much of the software YOU or anybody else uses is paid for? If we all paid for most or all of the software we use, very few people would be able to afford a computer.
<<<<<<<
Take a look at the stats and you’ll see that consumer software is a multi-billion dollar business. Not everyone is poor like the average Linux user…there are a lot of people with jobs who earn good livings and don’t mind spending their money (i.e. the professional — a concept that is alien to the Linux community but well known in the Mac and Windows world).
I think an OS that targets professionals is the smart way to go rather than the stupid BeIA-type idea which went for computer dummies who only did e-mail and baby-net-surfing. Professionals like dealing with other professionals and thus will pay for software…like they pay for someone to do their taxes, or walk the dog, etc. -that’s the better crowd in my elitist book
staroffice costing money is a good thing. this means that corporate users can see it as a legitimate tool, with manuals, and tech support from sun. if it was free, the corporate world would not know what to do when trouble arises. at least now when they buy it, they can ask sun if there’s trouble with the software.
if you can’t afford staroffice, get openoffice. it’s essentially the same thing.
i think this was a great plan from sun. sell staroffice for the corporate users, and give away openoffice.org to the home users. it solves the problem of bringing your work home with you. it’s better than microsoft’s, which requires that your company buys ms office for each pc in the office, and that the user also buys a copy for his own home pc.
am i wrong? let me know.
if StarOffice come with a cost if I need it I’ll buy it, if OpenOffice is enough why bother?
I guess is ok for non commercial distro use OpenOffice instead of StarOffice.
anyway It may stay in a commercial focused distribution (as the ones with Oracle or IBM db or such).
In that case you are selling the app and offering the OS ad added value.
(like the Sims pack IMHO)
Free software is good but I think that people that devote all is time working on making good programs deserve to get money for it.
“For the record – I’ve never bought anything from or associated with microsoft”
aww man … your missing some great games like … uhhh ….motor cro…. No that wasn’t any fun! Stupid exspensive waste of money.
I was surprised that KOffice 1.2 wont, and OpenOffice isn’t working on FreeBSD yet, so I can’t check that out myself.
are you sore? what you nean with those terms?
(maybe you should remebere that KWord use a frame driven approach and you can have frames as footnote or endnote^^)
It seems that Sun is charging for StarOffice to give it an air of legitamacy to corporate users. Most managers will assume that something that is free is no good without bothering to try it.
This is probably because most managers are nothing more than failed employees. The can’t produce anything, so they become a manager, talk a lot at long meetings and make retarded decisions.
If this weren’t true then comics like Dilbert wouldn’t be funny.
Not everyone is poor like the average Linux user…there are a lot of people with jobs who earn good livings and don’t mind spending their money (i.e. the professional — a concept that is alien to the Linux community but well known in the Mac and Windows world).
You are obviously not in this group of people then as it is apparent you don’t know what you are talking about. Hero worship is nice I suppose, but please don’t use it to make invalid points.
I think an OS that targets professionals is the smart way to go rather than the stupid BeIA-type idea which went for computer dummies who only did e-mail and baby-net-surfing.
Isn’t that about what you get with Windows?
Professionals like dealing with other professionals and thus will pay for software…like they pay for someone to do their taxes, or walk the dog, etc. -that’s the better crowd in my elitist book
Well, lets see. I pay Symes & Lisonbee to do my taxes, I pay Premeir Lawn Services to keep my yard up, I pay a lawyer to deal with my contracts, but I take care of my own pets and use Linux and *BSD. I do work for an employer where I have to use Windows, but I don’t think that is whatdefines my success. In fact, it is irrelevant.
It seems to me you are hero worshiping those that you feel are successful, but your ideals are misplaced. Running Windows and other such software does not make you successful.
“I was surprised that KOffice 1.2 wont, and OpenOffice isn’t working on FreeBSD yet, so I can’t check that out myself.”
You could always just download the Linux binary OpenOffice and use it on FreeBSD. I did that with StarOffice for a couple of year. It runs great in FreeBSD. I even wrote an entire book in StarOffice for Linux running under FreeBSD
The responses on this board are extremely ironic. Two simple facts:
[1] OpenOffice.org is a free clone of StarOffice. It is *identical*, except for some addititional licensed content that was not part of StarOffice 5.1 anyway.
[2] StarOffice 6, from Sun, will *continue to be free* for Solaris users.
So all the people “who are willing to pay for software”, who paid for Solaris, don’t have to pay a dime for the office suite straight from Sun. Everybody else, who wants to use software libre, can download the GPLed version from OpenOffice.org.
everyone should just switch to open office its free and just like star sun is becomeing stupid they withh die b.c they want to be MS
why shoudnt u pay for software in linux ? u do it in windows for everything ……
its not because linux is free that software for linux is free .