Barney's Blog

Blog archive

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


Featured

  • World Map Image

    Microsoft Taps Nebius in $17B AI Infrastructure Deal To Alleviate Cloud Strain

    Microsoft has signed a five-year, $17.4 billion agreement with Amsterdam-based Nebius Group to expand its AI computing capabilities through third-party GPU infrastructure.

  • Microsoft Brings Copilot AI Into Viva Engage

    Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Engage is now generally available, extending Copilot's AI-powered assistant capabilities deeper into the Viva platform.

  • MIT Finds Only 1 in 20 AI Investments Translate into ROI

    Despite pouring billions into generative AI technologies, 95 percent of businesses have yet to see any measurable return on investment.

  • Report: Cost, Sustainability Drive DaaS Adoption Beyond Remote Work

    Gartner's 2025 Magic Quadrant for Desktop as a Service reveals that while secure remote access remains a key driver of DaaS adoption, a growing number of deployments now focus on broader efficiency goals.