Features

StarOffice is the commercialisation of the stable version of the open-source codebase developed by OpenOffice.org with some additional features. the program includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, drawing tool & database. StarOffice supports a XML file format, including (as of StarOffice 8) a OpenDocument standard, & might generate PDF and Flash formats. A program attach to templates, a macro recorder, and the Software Development Kit (SDK).

Added proprietary components (additionally to OpenOffice.org) include:

many font metrical compatible Unicode TrueType fonts containing bitmap representations for better appearance at little font sizes Twelve American fonts & Sevener Asian language fonts (including trend lines for the Hong Kong More character placed) Adabas D database StarOffice-just templates and sample documents big clip art gallery sorting functionality for Asian versions file purification for extra older wordprocessing formats (including EBCDIC) commercial spell checker (note that OpenOffice.org does include a spell checker also) & thesaurus StarOffice Configuration Manager Macro Converter for converting Microsoft Professional VBA-macros to StarBasic

StarOffice 7 experienced file purification for WordPerfect, while OpenOffice.org did does'nt. OpenOffice.org Deuce added file purification for WordPerfect, therefore at present two software use purification for the format.

There are too differences in the documentation, how to videos & trend lines choices, & occasionally minor differences in the look & icons between them computer software.

More differences include: StarOffice simply supports Tenner languages (in comparison ended Twenty-five for OpenOffice), & StarOffice is merely available for the Windows, Linux, Solaris[tm] operating systems (spell OpenOffice is available for Eighter operating systems).

eWeek Laboratory published an independent evaluation of StarOffice 8 within September 2005 & reported, "we were pleased with the suite's word processing (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation (Impress) and database (Base) functions. In addition, we experienced generally good results opening and creating Microsoft Office-formatted documents with StarOffice... whether StarOffice 8 can succeed as a wholesale or partial replacement for Microsoft Office will depend on the organization thinking about making the switch." It noted that, "converting complex documents between the two suites' formats will in some cases require tweaking to preserve document appearance. In addition, while StarOffice 8 can be extended through macros and scripting, much like Microsoft Office can, these extensions won't migrate to Microsoft Office without being rewritten. However, StarOffice ships with a Macro Migration wizard that will aid in the migration of Microsoft Visual Basic macros to the StarOffice Basic macro language." It report that StarOffice has the "significantly lower per-user license costs for the Sun suite—$70 for a downloadable version of the product, compared with about $500 for Microsoft Office Professional Edition... [and] perhaps just as important as licensing costs is cross-platform support, and StarOffice clearly beats Microsoft Office here."

History
StarOffice was originally developed per German company StarDivision, founded by Marco Börries in 1986. A development of a integrated StarOffice began at the prevent of 1994. Until version Quadruplet.Ii StarOffice was according to a platform independent C++ class library StarView.

A company & a rights to StarOffice were acquired by Sun Microsystems inside 1999 for US$73.Five million, when Sun was shopping for to compete by using Microsoft Office. Sun before long offered StarOffice Five.Ii as a loose download for home utilize.

Sun so went across the similar exercise to Netscape's release of Mozilla by open-sourcing most of the StarOffice code-base. A consequent open-source codebase is developed as OpenOffice.org and is contributed to by both Sun and the open source community. Sun so will require the "snapshot" of the OpenOffice.org code base, integrates proprietorship & third-person code modules & markets a pack commercially.

Around September 2005 Sun freed StarOffice 8, adding trend lines for a OpenDocument standard & the total of improvements (according to the OpenOffice.org Ii code).

Pricing and licensing

Traditionally, StarOffice licenses have been sold for around Seventy USD, but inside 2004, Sun planned to offer subscription-based licenses to Japanese customers for about 1,980 JPY (19 USD) by the year (Becker, 2004). P. Ulander, the desktop products manager for Sun, acknowledged that Sun planned to expand subscription-depending licenses to more countries, too.

Sun utilizes a by the-human license for StarOffice, in comparison the by the-processor licenses utilized by virtually all software program corporations. a human potty set up the software program in as much as 5 computers. For instance, a microscopic business creator may st& the software program in his laptop computer, professional and front yard computers. For another example, if wise shoppers use at times two the Windows & Linux computer, you could set up StarOffice in each computers.

Sun offers training licensing to academic institutions & people for even the prices of the medithe or of a download. It besides offer loose Web-depending Expert training videos & an on the internet tutorial for students & teachers, absolutely free! trend lines services for teachers including training guide for StarOffice, & significantly discounted technical school trend lines for schools.