:Smart Partner: Sun Expected To Make StarOffice Open Source
Smart Partner: Sun Expected To Make StarOffice Open Source Jul 16, 2000, 20 :21 UTC (19 Talkback[s]) (7749 reads) (Other stories by Deborah Gage)
"Sun Microsystems is expected to announce this week that it will make StarOffice available as open
source. Sun plans to release the suite under the GNU General Public License, which is promoted by the
Free Software Foundation and is considered by many to be the purest of the open source licenses."
"GPL allows developers to modify source code so long as they are explicit about the changes they have
made and license them back to the community. Patents also must be licensed back. Sun could not be
reached for comment by press time."
"Sun is offering no date for the release other than "later this summer," according to sources close to the
company, but it plans to make StarOffice available at www.openoffice.org, a URL currently owned by
Caldera Systems. Caldera could not be reached for comment either. Caldera is one of several Linux
vendors that signed agreements with Sun to redistribute StarOffice 5.2 earlier this month."
"Releasing StarOffice under the GPL would be an important step for Sun, which has struggled with its Sun
Community Source License."
