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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stormweaver who wrote (29219)	9/6/1999 10:02:00 PM
From: RTev	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74651

Star office is not simpler - it is very MS office like and has the annoyance of completely taking over the desktop; even replacing the start menu. That's a good point. Sun faces a unique challenge if they hope to garner widespread acceptance of this application among users of Windows: Can they recognize what it is that makes an application "Windows-like" and produce something that will be immediately appealing to Windows users? The free application that is now available does not do that. Early in the weekend, there were a series of posts comparing the Sun-Star free strategy with Microsoft's way of promoting something like PowerPoint or Access. In reading those posts, I kept thinking of a paraphrase: "It's the UI, stupid." (and not directing that at anyone in particular). It was true of Word and Excel, and later of Powerpoint and Access. They did not gain market share so much because they were cheaper than their competitors, or even because they were virtually free (although they were one or the other). All of them won largely because they were perceived to be easier to easier to use. Both WordPerfect and Lotus 123 stuck with a character-based interface while users were switching to Windows. The more powerful presentation and database applications with which PP and Access faced off were also character-based DOS applications when users were looking for Windows solutions. I haven't seen WordPerfect for years, but I do use Corel's graphics applications. They must be credited with doing a superb job of making those apps familiar to anyone who uses Microsoft Office. You want to move your toolbar to the side of the screen? Do it in the same you you'd do it in Office. Icons on the toolbars look very similar to the ones used on Office. Corel does not try to replace the familiar way of doing things, but rather strives to give the Windows user a familiar environment. None of that is true of StarOffice. Instead, they seem to want to replace one's accustomed way of doing things with a new model. Unfortunately for them, it doesn't seem to be a better model.