Sun Plans July Release For StarOffice 8
Sun Microsystems plans to release its next version of StarOffice in July, bringing new compatibility with its chief competitor, Microsoft Office.
Source: c|netThe StarOffice software, which shares the same code base as the open-source OpenOffice, is used for tasks such as word processing and spreadsheet calculations. OpenOffice ships with Linux versions from Red Hat and Novell, the top sellers of the open-source operating system, and is widely used in the Linux realm.
Sun's new version of StarOffice, called StarOffice 8, will include "dramatically improved Microsoft Office compatibility," the company said on its Web site. StarOffice will support new features such as password protection for Word and Excel documents and spreadsheets; tables, paragraphs, page breaks and column breaks in Word documents; large Excel spreadsheets; Excel spreadsheet formulas; and PowerPoint AutoShapes.
Sun has said it is working to improve StarOffice's compatibility with Office through a partnership signed with Microsoft in April 2004. However, the compatibility improvements in StarOffice 8 predate that partnership.
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