Sun launches StarOffice NOW program
Sun Microsystems Inc. on Tuesday announced StarOffice NOW, a program that lets partners and other third parties provide the company's StarOffice productivity suite to their subscribers, customers or other end users.
According to Sun officials in Palo Alto, Calif., the program enables service providers, software integrators, universities and businesses to help their customers attain quality in their office productivity tools and give them the option to preinstall StarOffice on their PCs.
"StarOffice NOW ... allows us to work with our business partners, giving them the opportunity to add significant value for their customers at little or no cost," said Marco Boerries, vice president and general manager, Webtop and Application Software, at Sun in a statement.
Interested participants can enroll at "gold" or "platinum" levels, officials said. Gold participants must complete a Sun-approved, Web-based form and sign Sun's standard legal agreement. Platinum participants must also meet technical and customer satisfaction requirements.
StarOffice, which is Web enabled and intended for mobile and other "disconnected" users, has been downloaded by more than 1.5 million users, officials said. A future release of StarOffice will be portal ready -- available to synchronize files with centrally stored StarPortal software office files for access anywhere, anytime, anyplace, they added.
StarPortal software is Sun's major initiative to provide word processing, presentation graphics, spreadsheet and other office software tools to any Web browser and, eventually, portable devices.
Information about the StarOffice software curriculum and education consulting services is available at www.sun.com/service/suned.