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StarOffice Dropped From Google Pack
Posted by
timothy
on Mon Nov 10, 2008 06:50 AM
from the stardom-is-temporary dept.
from the stardom-is-temporary dept.
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?"
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If there's one thing I wouldn't do... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:If there's one thing I wouldn't do... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:If there's one thing I wouldn't do... (Score:4, Funny)
In which case, you're obviously not an office furniture supplier.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
When Ballmer talks... people *duck*.
Why not OpenOffice? (Score:5, Insightful)
Support (Score:4, Insightful)
When an enterprise deploys office software they want at least some kind of support from the vendor.
Parent
Re:Support (Score:5, Insightful)
What support?
Really, what support from the vendor? Have you /read/ your EULA for any software you've used? Ever?
YOYO.
You're On Your Own.
Every EULA should have "YOYO" printed at the top of the first page (typically of dozens) or just say "You're On Your Own" in 28 point type in the middle of a blank page. It would greatly simplify things.
That support myth is so old. I don't know which myth is older, that one or the "someone to sue" myth.
Seriously, stop repeating this bullshit.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't say I agreed with it, but like it or not that's the mentality of most CIO's. Hopefully as the crusty old bastards retire and die off the mentality will change.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
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Agreed. Most EULAs are pretty much this: a notice that states whether or not redistribution is allowed (usually it is not), a notice that states how many computers you can install it on, a notice that says not to reverse engineer it, and a complete disclaimer of all warranty and sometimes even a covenant not to sue.
You can, of course, usually purchase additional support, sometimes even warranty coverage.
How does this differ from free/open source software? Not at all. One can purchase support for any majo
Re:Support (Score:4, Informative)
Really, what support from the vendor? Have you /read/ your EULA for any software you've used? Ever?
I know it's popular on Slashdot to claim that vendor support doesn't exist, but if you work for a large customer of a particular vendor and ask intelligent questions of the right person working for that vendor, you will generally get good support.
In most situations, it doesn't make economic sense for everyone to have someone on staff who knows the ins and outs of every product they work with as well as a dedicated support person at the vendor does. I tend to get into the nuts and bolts of what I support a lot more than most people would, but there's only so much time in the day, and I support a *lot* of different software for my employer.
My experience has been that - while there are some vendors who have terrible support overall - generally it's just the first tier that's like that, to act as a buffer because most people who call their vendor's support line are not highly technical and only need basic support (IE something they could have learned from the manual). If you are willing to do the necessary investigation beforehand and put together a package of information (network captures, etc.) you will usually get good results.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Is this very different from open source though? You can generally get good support from a mailing list if you ask the right questions. You could also buy some support at the developer's company or another OSS support firm.
The major difference is that for all the companies without enough clout to get something done at their software suppliers, support is generally nil, where anyone can ask questions on a mailing list or buy decent support.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
On a mailing list you might not get a response back, or the response might not work and then they say sorry, can't help you. With a support contract, there's a method of escalation. I'm not saying that it works all the time, but it can sometimes help.
Sounds to me like you're saying that they're both as uncertain as each other - but I can pay for one? Wow, I'm sold.
I guess issue escalation processes and NDAs aren't worth anything to you.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
1) There's an email address or telephone number where you make your request for support.
2) Someone will answer that within 3, or sometimes 7, working days to indicate they've received your request for support.
What more do you want?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The EULA is the legal responsibility to not support the product. Then you have the real reason to support the product. The fact that you paid for the current version and if they do not properly support the software chances are they will not purchase the next version. Hence future money in their pocket. Even the Mighty Microsoft needs to keep good relations with their customers. Even though they may have a monopoly on Office tools and OS's it is not a strong one. OpenOffice google docs, etc... May be go
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i dunno, was sun offering support for staroffice as part of the google pack?
is it impossible to get support for openoffice.org?
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"When an enterprise deploys office software they want at least some kind of support from the vendor."
But... this is a package of free as in beer home-use applications never intended, at least in its most common form, for corporate use. The real answer is that the added clip-art and other miscellaneous minor differences between StarOffice and its OpenOffice base are well worth including if you're getting them for free. If not, it makes more sense to stick with OpenOffice. This is more likely to be an interim
Re:Why not OpenOffice? (Score:5, Informative)
StarOffice has some proprietary parts that couldn't be put into OpenOffice. In particular, Sun Microsystems licensed information about the format of Office files from Microsoft, to gain better compatibility.
Parent
Re:Why not OpenOffice? (Score:5, Insightful)
"In particular, Sun Microsystems licensed information about the format of Office files from Microsoft, to gain better compatibility."
[citation needed]
Parent
Re:Why not OpenOffice? (Score:5, Funny)
[citation needed]
Anonymous Coward. "Re:Why not OpenOffice?" Weblog comment. 10 November 2008. "StarOffice Dropped From Google Pack." Timothy Lord. Slashdot. 10 November 2008 (http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1023681&cid=25702165).
Hope that helps~
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Last I checked, MS Office support in StarOffice was just as good/bad as it is in OpenOffice 2.0. I seriously doubt Microsoft would give anyone information about the MS Office formats -- this isn't exactly the days where WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 rule the earth anymore.
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It's obvious.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Making a profit for shareholders
Including StarOffice does nothing to that end.
Honestly why is anyone surprised when Google acts like a real company?
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Because they seldom do. Most of their services and applications are for free. Plus, if you are a heavy user of adblocker, you don't see their adds either. So its easy to forget that they aren't a non-for profit at times.
staroffice? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:staroffice? (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Some user backlash (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Well, the important thing... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Well, the important thing... (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe we at Google like reading your nutty conspiracy theories. Don't stop on our behalf.
-- Eric Schmidt
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Doesn't make sense (Score:3, Insightful)
Seems fairly obvious... (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
Does Google Documents include support for user-defines templates yet? Without them, I don't consider them to be in competition with offline office apps. I don't want to have to set up my letterhead and so on every time I type a letter.
What Google should do (Score:5, Interesting)
Why not axe Norton first? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
How were they giving it away in the first place? (Score:4, Insightful)
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?
Re:How were they giving it away in the first place (Score:4, Funny)
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.
Parent
Microsoft Signs MSN Toolbar Deal With Sun (Score:4, Interesting)
Microsoft Signs MSN Toolbar Deal With Sun [pcworld.com]
Google caught wind of a Microsoft/Sun deal.
It's still downloadable from Google... (Score:3, Informative)
...as I point out here [slashdot.org].
-- Nathan
Sun's deal with MS probably prompted this (Score:3, Insightful)
The word processors. (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
Used Firefox or Thunderbird recently?
Re:It's because staroffice is slow and a resource (Score:5, Informative)
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 ++)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
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++.
Re: (Score:2)
I see Balmer as a living on the edge kind of guy.
Obviously Baidu [baidu.com] is the natural choice for him.