Software Selection Tips: StarOffice Vs. OpenOffice

Now that Sun has released StarOffice 9, it's a good time to answer an important question: What, exactly, is the difference between OpenOffice.org and StarOffice?Some users might ask a somewhat different question: Are there any differences between OpenOffice.org and StarOffice, except for the fact that the former is free and the latter is not?

Even Sun has a hard time getting past this issue, judging from its own attempts to compare the relative merits of StarOffice and OpenOffice.org. (It doesn't help that links to OpenOffice.org are much easier to find on Sun's software Web site than links to StarOffice!)

Nevertheless, there are some real distinctions between the two products, even if those differences are far more relevant to enterprise users than to those in the SMB market.

First, however, it might help to explain the exact relationship between StarOffice and OpenOffice.org:

In practice, then, the new and updated features released (link: PDF) in StarOffice 9 this week are functionally identical to those released in OpenOffice.org 3.0 last month. Combined with the fact that OpenOffice.org doesn't cost a dime to use, one can understand why Sun's StarOffice marketing team faces such a tough task.

Still, once you get past the look, feel, and feature set, StarOffice delivers additional features that some users will find valuable, and perhaps even essential:

As a Linux.com article recently pointed out, many users won't find a lot of added value lurking in these differences. It doesn't help that Sun no longer provides 60 days of unlimited support for StarOffice users; that what used to be a nearly 500-page printed manual is now an 88-page "getting started" guide; or that many of the same Sun-sponsored service and support offerings are available (for a price) to OpenOffice.org users.

Also, keep in mind that most, if not all, of the software Sun bundles with StarOffice is available, free of charge, to OpenOffice.org users -- they just have to find and download it themselves.

It's those last two bullet points, however, that really tell you where Sun still hopes to find a "sweet spot" for StarOffice -- in the enterprise market. Both indemnification and a more formal software QA process are designed to appeal to enterprise IT decision-makers who must adhere to strict corporate and legal guidelines when they assess and select software (and especially software that may interact with corporate financial data or customer records).

The same enterprise focus applies to Sun's price structure for StarOffice, which -- although far cheaper than Microsoft Office even for a single-seat license -- scales nicely for enterprises provisioning acres of employee desktops.

Here's the bottom line: While StarOffice.org remains relevant to large enterprises or to companies working in strict regulatory environments, it holds relatively few charms for the SMB market. If your smaller business is looking for an alternative to Microsoft Office, my advice is to look first at OpenOffice.org unless you have very specific reasons to seek out its proprietary twin.