Google Offers Free $70 Software
Forty months ago, Sun and Microsoft buried the hatchets (the same ones they'd
been hurling at each other's skulls). As part of a broad agreement, Microsoft
promised it wouldn't sue Sun for any StarOffice patent or copyright infringement.
Little did Microsoft know that Google would use this deal against it. Last
week, Google announced that it's giving
away StarOffice, which ordinarily retails for $70 bucks.
Now, before you get too excited, keep in mind that the paid version includes
support. With the Google version, you're pretty much on your own. If you look
at it that way, it's nearly the same as simply downloading OpenOffice, which
is also free.
While some critics contend that this is a major challenge to Microsoft Office,
it's simply a marketing/distribution deal. And since the Google home page is
so sparse, I doubt most users will even know the software is available. If Google
really wants to unseat Office and Windows, it'll have to do a lot better than
this!
What say you? Share your thoughts with other Redmond Report readers be e-mailing
me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on August 20, 2007