17 Aug
Posted by: John in: Office software, StarOffice
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Two years after announcing a somewhat vague software-distribution partnership, Google Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. have clarified their tactics for jointly attacking Microsoft Corp. and its ubiquitous Office software.
Over the weekend, Google quietly began including Sun’s StarOffice suite of word processing, spreadsheets and other workplace-oriented programs for free as part of the Google Pack download.
The download package is part of Google’s efforts to expand beyond Web search and control more of users’ computing experience online and offline. It already includes Firefox, the No. 2 Web browser behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and RealNetworks’s RealPlayer, a key rival to Microsoft’s own media player.
[Source]
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3 Responses
Nini
21|Aug|2007 1I’m glad I found your blog. This article (which also came out today in our local paper)
plus another one about switching to Linux are all very timely. I’v just about had it
with our Windows xp and now that I am going to buy a notebook computer I am ex-
ploring the possibility of going without it. The notebk that I am buying has no o.s. so
it will be an added P10k plus plus to buy the “necessary” Microsft o.s. Your blog will
really help me a lot as I know of no other world but microsoft and I am more than
a little scared to give it up BUT because of the numerous problems I feel like it’s
just not worth the continous aggravation. Thank you
Mike
03|Nov|2007 2If google and sun really want to compete with MS they should be supporting linux, offering google pack for linux would be a big start. I hear google might come out with their own linux distro.
George
26|Dec|2007 3I just had a cool experience that I just want to share. I upgraded my PC from Vista to XP and my computer performance dramatically improved. Well, it sure seemed like an upgrade to me anyway. As a gamer I’ve come to the conclusion that Vista is fundamentally flawed, bloated and slow. I guess this could change in the future if they ever figure out how to turn an Edsel into a Chevy. Seriously, perhaps it will be possible to make quantum improvements in Vista with published updates. With the upcoming release of SPI for Vista we can keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. In the mean time I think XP is my best choice for now. Its zippy and It seems to perform nicely for my gaming needs.
But the thing I’m kind of excited about is that for the first time ever I actually believe it may soon be possible to completely break the chains that have bound me to the “Big Blue Ogre” for so many years. I was visited by the Ghost of Christmas Future and she showed me a wonderful vision: many of the the links in the chain that had held me captive were actually already broken, I just didn’t realize it yet. She showed me a multitude of Open Source and Free Ware programs around the world that were freely there for the taking. I saw people reformatting and adding programs to their hearts delight. No predatory activation schemes required. Then she showed me another group. She referred to them as the “sheeple’s”. They were following the “Big Blue Ogre” everywhere he went and were afraid. The Ogre walked to and fro across the earth shouting “Pirate” “Pirate” “Pirate” far and wide. If people didn’t do what the ogre said, or forgot to call him, he growled very loudly shaking the ground and threatening to take away their treasure and make them buy it yet again. The Ogre demanded much gold for his wares.
Then the Christmas Ghost showed me that there were really only two more links left in my chain that had to be broken. One link had “Gaming” written on it. The other link was stamped “A Few Applications”. Then I woke up and resumed upgrading my computer to XP…
I was quite pleased when I realized that the only program I had to activate was my legitimate copy of XP itself. I chose not to install my legitimate copy of MS Office 2003 because I really don’t need it anymore. I prefer Open Office anyway. (Wow, it really felt good when I didn’t have to go through the activation hassle before I could start enjoying my Office Suite). I’m also using several other top quality Open Source software programs as well.
How I love freedom.
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