Sun is announcing the availability of StarOffice 9 and StarSuite 9, the latest version of its office productivity suite, along with add-ons (also called extensions) and a personal information manager that includes mail and calendar functionality. in addition there is new subscription pricing for StarOffice 9 and StarSuite 9 [20905].
StarOffice 9 introduces over 1600 new features not found in StarOffice 8. The StarOffice and StarSuite 9 feature set can be summarized as follows:
- Support for the Mac (native OS X)
- Import of Microsoft Office 2007 XML files, instant conversion of Excel macros
- PDF Import (via an extension) and hybrid PDF
- Productivity – presenter console, new charts and a lot of other cool stuff
- Ease of use – native tables, notes, multiple page views and so many more
- Mail and Calendar client
- Developer features – extension framework, VBA, HTTPS support
Yet another improvement in StarOffice and StarSuite 9 is the increased compatibility both solutions now have with Microsoft Office in terms of stability, performance, security, and accessibility.
The What’s new Guide is the best place to get details on all the features. once there, click on “Guide to new Features” banner in the right navigation bar and you’ll obtain the What’s new Guide. please note that many of these new features are in extensions.
StarOffice delivers benefits to the Microsoft Office user in both large organizational settings and in the home or personal office. these benefits include reduces desktop licensing costs and the elimination of inflexible licensing contracts. File sharing is possible with Microsoft Office users (even Microsoft Office 2007) with little retraining.
The home and personal office user gets an easy-to-learn office suite that comes with support for three incidents. Users can share files with Microsoft Office users (including Office 2007 XML files) and work with other formats like PDF, HTML and FLASH. Included as well are many tools that make it easier to collaborate on the web, work with PDF and get updates.
Mac users will find that StarOffice 9 is a native port to the Mac platform, and that it is both less expensive and has better Accessibility support than Microsoft Office for the Mac. a no-cost version is available at OpenOffice.org, along with membership in the community, which guarantees that you get new enhancements and features.
The OpenOffice.org user will be pleased to find that StarOffice is now even more affordable than ever at $34.95 and comes with binaries that are the same as OpenOffice.org there is no proprietary code in StarOffice. this means you will get a superb implementation of the OpenDocument Format. and, in addition to that low price, you get support for three incidents from Sun.
Summing up, a lot of new productivity features that make many common tasks much easier to perform are included in this release: native support for the Macintosh; PDF import; import of Microsoft Office 2007 XML files; web participation tools like a blogger; a calendar client; and many usability improvements like a new Start Center, more polished icons and automatic notification and installation of updates. all these features added together make this the best release of StarOffice and StarSuite.
There are four key changes in the pricing structure for StarOffice/StarSuite9:
- Subscription pricing added as an option, subscriptions include license, support and indemnification
- Education pricing is no longer free
- Download price is $34.95
- Manufactured Suggested Retail Price is $54.95
Customers who bought the StarOffice enterprise RTU product can get approximately a 30% discount on v9. Note that any customer that has a support or services contract with Sun receives StarOffice 8 at no charge.
While there are no upgrade discounts for home or personal users who buy through download, retail, or etail, the download price has been reduced to $34.95 (from $69.95) and the MSPR from $79.99 to $54.99. Of course you need to check with your local retailer or etailer for the actual prices.
More Information
StarOffice Page on sun.com
OpenOffice.org [...read more...] Keywords: fullsource Other articles in the OpenOffice section of Volume 129, Issue 3:
Sun Releases StarOffice 9 and StarSuite 9 (this article)
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