“Although Microsoft Office users aren’t likely to switch their
desktop software, they believe Sun is making a smart move by
opening up the source code, XML file formats and APIs to the
development community and that small businesses are more likely
than large businesses to adopt it.”
“Opening the source code makes it much more receptive to the
industry,” said Matt Merrick, executive vice president of
information technology at Merrick Printing Co. in Louisville, Ky.
“However … when both companies, Microsoft and Sun, fully
transition to offering an [application service provider] product,
Sun would have a shot at having a respectable market share.”
“With the ASP service, Merrick said Sun could grow the
StarOffice installed base to between 5 and 10 percent.”
“If the open-source community really embraces this as they
have with Linux, you could have some very serious desktop tools,”
said Steve Curcuru, resident wizard at Mugur Enterprises Inc. in
Boston and an eWEEK corporate partner. “It will take a minimum of a
year. There could be some serious competition to Microsoft in two
years.“