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.