“Sun… is scooping up German software maker Star Division…
Unlike Microsoft… Sun plans to offer the software for free, right
off a Web site. …Sun has its eyes on another prize: the servers
that handle the traffic.
The Wall Street Journal considered the Star buy another
in-Microsoft’s-face move by Sun. Company president Ed Zander denied
Sun is gunning for Redmond. …Giga Information analyst told [Wall
Street Journal’s David] Hamilton that PC users are itching for more
choice. A Giga survey reported 75 percent of IT managers would
switch from Office if they had another choice.
The Los Angeles Times played up the Linux angle, pointing out
that StarOffice is the most popular software among the penguin
crowd. Of the software’s 4 million users, 30 percent use the Linux
operating system, not Windows.”