Sun will officially announce the release of StarOffice 8, its open-source-based office suite.On Tuesday, Sun will announce the availability of StarOffice 8, the latest version of its desktop productivity suite.
StarOffice 8 is based on OpenOffice.org 2.0, a popular open-source office suite, which is now in pre-release.
Copies of this version of OpenOffice.org are already being distributed as updates in some Linux distributions such as Novell Inc.'s SuSE Linux 9.3.
Sun Microsystems Inc. is positioning StarOffice 8 as an affordable alternative to Microsoft Office.
This new StarOffice is the first update of the office suite since late 2003.
StarOffice 8 is designed to offer enhanced compatibility and interoperability with Microsoft Office.
It is also built to look familiar to Office users as well as existing StarOffice users.
Major enhancements have been made to presentation and database user interfaces, toolbars, menus, headers and footers, and the overall look and feel.
The goal, according to Sun public relations, has been to make it so that Microsoft Office users can begin using StarOffice, with minimal training.
"With over 50 million downloads to date, StarOffice and OpenOffice.org have established themselves as the leading alternative to Microsoft Office for value-conscious customers," said John Loiacono, Sun's executive vice president of the software group.
"The enhanced interoperability of StarOffice 8 makes it a comprehensive, cross-platform office productivity suite that meets the needs of both home and office users for a fraction of the cost of competitive products."
To further this end, StarOffice 8 provides better import and export of Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
It also comes with a new macro migration tool that Sun claims will convert most MS Office macros.
In addition to all this Microsoft Office compatibility, StarOffice 8 is the first commercial office suite to use the OASIS OpenDocument file format.
Click here to read more about OASIS' approval of the Open Document Format for Office Applications Version 1.0.
Sun won't be the last. IBM is adding it to IBM Workplace and Corel is expected to be incorporating OpenDocument into its WordPerfect Suite in the near future.
The free software OpenOffice.org 2.0, of course, already has it.
Read more here about the second beta version of OpenOffice.org 2.0.
The state of Massachusetts has also made OpenDocument, along with Adobe Acrobat PDF, one of its two official office formats.
Read the full story on eweek.com: Sun Launches StarOffice 8
Web Design 
