In an effort to keep Microsoft from establishing a .NET-based Web PAS monopoly around proprietary XML file formats and APIs, Sun Microsystems made the StarOffice source code available to the public last October on OpenOffice.org.
But Gartner saysthe key to this endeavor’s success is participation from the developer community. And the lack of a firm statement of an investment commitment from Sun to the community, combined with the absence of key third-party endorsement, doesn’t bode well forvictory.
Do you think OpenOffice will succeed in the face of .NET? Will the developer community be willing to participate? What other challenges do you think Sun faces with OpenOffice? How do you feel about XML-based file formats that can be shared by various productivity suites? What have been your experiences with Sun’s StarOffice suite? How do you think it compares to Microsoft’s .NET strategy?
You can read the related Gartner article, which will be posted 3 A.M. Monday, at
https://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=r00220010402ggp01.htm
