Sun to provide support for StarOffice

Balaka Aggarwal

NEW DELHI: Sun Microsystems India has launched an initiative to provide

support for users of StarOffice. StarOffice is a free software for desktops

which is Sun's answer to MS Office. The initiative has basically been launched

at the insistence of users who require support for the software. The support

will be e-mail based and executed though a contract with customerasset.com.






The support will be priced in three price slabs of Rs 2,500, Rs 5000 and Rs 7000
for 25 plus users, 50 plus users and 100 plus users respectively. Users have to

log on to the site http://supportforum.sun.com/staroffice and register to avail

the support. The service agreement offers SLAs and time-frames with respect to

which support will be offered.






"Earlier users who had problems with the software would post it on the
support forum and expect some good Samaritan to help them out. Now that issue

should be addressed with the launch of this initiative," says Sun

Microsystems, India Country Head, marketing, P Unnikrishnan.

Additionally, Sun also plans to train at least seven of its 135 Authorized

Training Centers across the country to provide training and support for

StarOffice. Sun does not expect to make money from this support service since

the service is positioned as part of the marketing exercise of the company to

popularize its products.






The company has so far distributed around 25,000 copies of the free software and
has an estimated base of 2500 corporate using its software. The support for

StarOffice assumes significance in light of the fact that corporates have

increasingly become aware about the need to use legal software. Capitalizing on

this growing realization, Sun had launched a sustained campaign to make inroads

into the traditional Microsoft domain area in the desktop space.






However, StarOffice although free had a lot of shortcomings with most users long
used to the more friendly MS Office. This support initiative was long called for

and is expected to fill a vital gap in the needs of its users.