What is in it for them?
2007-11-07 14:51:35 · 6 answers · asked by Jbb 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
Actually, you can also now get Star Office free through Google.
2007-11-07 15:01:03 · answer #1 · answered by jarrgen 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Star Office was a commercial product for Linux. Sun bought it some years ago and started giving it away. The opinion at the time was that this was to hurt MS revenues.
Later, they got the Open Source bug and donated the source code to OpenOffice.org. I think they still spend a fair bit of money developing OpenOffice.org.
I think it helps their bottom line by establishing a little Open Source Cred, plus they have a fair bit of influence in the OpenOffice.org organisation.
2007-11-07 15:41:50 · answer #2 · answered by Andrew M 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sun is selling Star-office (Open Office is not really belong to Sun)
The business of Sun is mainly in Corporate system design.
2007-11-07 14:56:14 · answer #3 · answered by giginotgigi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe Sun ventured into Star Office to compete with Microsoft. Sun wants you to buy there systems, running their OS (Sun Solaris) and to help offset the need for an "Office" product, they created Star Office.
2007-11-07 15:03:05 · answer #4 · answered by learn2btech 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, OpenOffice is based on code that Sun released from a product called StarOffice, which they still sell. Sun also sells servers and specialized workstations, along with commercial licenses to their Solaris operating system (Private users can get it free).
2007-11-07 14:55:38 · answer #5 · answered by inclusive_disjunction 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For an in-depth discussion on the benefits and business model of Open Source Software, I recommend that you read Eric S. Raymond's "The Cathedral and the Bazaar".
2007-11-07 14:57:19 · answer #6 · answered by CliffJumper 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋