StarOffice, the stepping stone to Linux

StarOffice is a cross-platform office suite. Simply put, this means it runs on Windows and on Linux. In fact, 70 percent of StarOffice deployments take place on Windows and around 30 percent on Linux. So why should StarOffice’s fortunes affect those of Linux? It’s like this. StarOffice is a stepping stone to Linux. Organisations that deploy StarOffice on hundreds of desktops are a lot more likely to convert to Linux secure in the knowledge that their users won’t need much retraining and that documents will continue to open as before.

Outside India, Toshiba and Sony bundle StarOffice with their machines, but in India bundling deals have been happening on a case-by-case basis. Sun has worked with HCL, Accel and Wipro Infotech on deals ranging from 500 to 1,000 copies of StarOffice. “The average deal size is 500 users,” says K P Unnikrishnan, country head, m Marketing, Sun Microsystems India.

One thing is clear. The momentum for this low-cost office suite is definitely picking up. Sun’s recent official launch of StarOffice 6 in India saw 650 customers turn up. Education is a key segment. Under Sun’s EduSoft programme, the company gives institutes and non-profit organisations the opportunity to buy StarOffice 6 for the cost of media (Rs 5,000) and involves zero licence costs. “We suggest that they buy one media per department, as there is wear and tear while installing on a large number of computers,” adds Unnikrishnan. A school with a hundred PCs could have StarOffice on all its desktops for just Rs 5,000.

Sun is talking to OEMs about its Mad Hatter project. Mad Hatter was initially slated to be a thin client running Linux with a complete software stack consisting of StarOffice, Mozilla and Evolution. The thin client is still there, based on the Sunray, and Sun will offer it on demand. However, the thrust of the Mad Hatter project in India will lie in the software stack.

StarOffice users in India include the likes of the Indian Army (500 users), National Fertilisers (1,000 users), Karnataka government schools (3,000 users) and Mumbai Port Trust. HDFC Bank uses a combination of StarOffice and OpenOffice on its 3,500 desktops. OpenOffice is being used on non-critical systems. In the process HDFC Bank has saved crores of rupees.