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To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (91969)	11/9/1999 3:17:00 PM
From: Paul Engel	Respond to of 186894

Ten - Looks like SUN is just as BAD as Microsoft in getting new Software Applications to market on time ! Paul {=====================================} Sun's Microsoft Office competitor delayed By Stephen Shankland Staff Writer, CNET News.com November 9, 1999, 11:05 a.m. PT URL: news.cnet.com The acquisition of office productivity software maker Star Division cost Sun Microsystems $73.5 million, but the product resulting from that deal will be delayed, the company disclosed in a filing today. The August acquisition gave Sun Microsystems not only a direct competitor to Microsoft Office that Sun will give away for minimal cost but also a way for Sun to try to undermine Microsoft's virtual lock on desktop applications. That lock--which a federal judge described last week as one of the methods Microsoft uses to keep its monopoly intact--occurs because Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows reinforce each other's popularity. Sun's long-term strategy with Star Office, the product acquired from Star Division, is to offer it as software that resides on a server computer. Clients--Windows PCs and a number of other types of computers--could then tap into the word processor, spreadsheet, and other software components via the Internet. But that new version of Star Office, called Star Portal, will be a little late, Sun said. Initially, Sun expected it to arrive by the end of 1999, but additional programming and testing activities mean that only a test version will be available then. The final version will ship in the first half of 2000, Sun said in the filing. The delay is significant given Microsoft's own plans for making Office available via the Internet. Sun paid $59.5 million for Star Division and $14 million for a related company, Star Company, Sun said in an Securities and Exchange Commission filing today.