14 DAY TRIAL // Sun Microsystems will launch tomorrow the new Star Office 8 suite, which will be compatible with Windows, Linux and Sun. The main novelty of this suite is the improved compatibility with Microsoft Office.
The suite has a text editor, a table computations program, a toll for multimedia presentations and an application to create and organize databases. StarOffice 8, which was initially scheduled for this year's July, will be capable to import files and macros created with MS Office.
By introducing these changes, Sun hopes to improve its position in this field. In addition, StarOffice 8 will include support for the "Open Document" format; Microsoft refuses to introduce it in MS Office.
The development of the StarOffice suite lasted for almost 2 years. The price for the CD version is $99.95 and for the Internet version, users will have to pay only $69.95.
OpenOffice, the non-commercial version of StarOffice, is currently in beta testing.