“Sun Microsystems Inc said on Tuesday that it is already making
progress in a bold initiative to break Microsoft Corp’s
stranglehold on word processing and other office productivity
software.”
“Earlier this month Sun acquired Star Division, a German company
that developed a suite of programmes compatible with Word and other
Microsoft products that dominate the market for desktop
programmes.”
“Sun is offering its Star Office product for free over the
Internet in the hope of pulling users away from Microsoft Office,
which often sells for $300 or more. “In the first week and a
half since we launched it we’ve had over a quarter of a million
people download it for free, said Sun Chief Executive Scott
McNealy at an Internet conference organised [sic] by International
Data Corp.”