Sun offers StarOffice 9 beta for Mac

Sun has released a beta for StarOffice 9, which brings native Mac support to Sun's commercial version of the OpenOffice suite of applications (finally bringing to fruition Sun's joining the Mac porting team back in 2007). The new version is a regular Aqua application and no longer requires X11. In addition, it integrates with "the address book and other system tools" including Spotlight, and allows importing the new XML-based Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac file formats (.docx, .xlsx etc.).

StarOffice9 is Intel-only and requires OS X 10.4+. The beta expires on August 17. It is a free download from Sun Microsystems (registration required). The regular price of StarOffice 8 is $69.95.

[via MacNN]

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Source: http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/get_beta.jsp

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Sun has released a beta for StarOffice 9, which brings native Mac support to Sun's commercial version of the OpenOffice suite of...

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FearlessFreep

What's the difference in this and NeoOffice? Why would I pay $70 for the same thing?

August 05 2008 at 1:49 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Fawn

Intel-only? That makes me almost annoyed enough to type a displeased smiley face.

August 05 2008 at 10:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Neil

Already own MS Office 2008, but I'm sure this would be more than fine for most people.

August 05 2008 at 2:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Virtuous

No wonder Sun is losing so much money. They're charging for something that should be free. I'll keep using NeoOffice.

August 04 2008 at 11:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to Virtuous's comment

Neil

How would giving it away make them money or even stop them from losing money? lol :P

August 05 2008 at 2:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Nikax

I believe Sun charges for SO because they provide tech support for it, which makes it a better choice for enterprise users, otherwise OO is a good choice. Sun provides funding for both. And Sun "should give it away" because....????

August 05 2008 at 11:07 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

I've been using OpenOffice Beta 1 and 2 for the last few months and I'm really happy with it. I'd strongly recommend it to anyone who wants Office (or most of it) without the cost. It's also much Snappierâ„¢ than Office 2008.

August 04 2008 at 11:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Allister

Aqua is so last year.

August 04 2008 at 7:48 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

numpty

To be fair, it's only expires on August 17th because that's when the next beta is due out.

August 04 2008 at 7:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Egg and Spam

70 dlls is cheaper than MS Office, but more expensive than Open Office.
I'll pass and I'll continue with my OpenOffice Beta 2 such is also Cocoa build.

August 04 2008 at 7:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Egg and Spam's comment

flokru

Just because an application uses Aqua elements does not mean it's Cocoa. Not to mention following Apple's design guidelines to give the app a Mac-like look & feel.

In other words I think both OpenOffice/StarOffice and NeoOffice suck as Mac OS X apps. They don't have the look & feel other Mac apps have and they are often far too complicated to use.

August 05 2008 at 2:39 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

required

Cool!

August 04 2008 at 6:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Big John

13 days? Thanks for the offer but I'll pass.

August 04 2008 at 6:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply