Sun Donates StarOffice to Non-Profits
Sun is giving the gift of StarOffice to nonprofit and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the United States and internationally. The software will be distributed through a partnership with Gifts In Kind International.
StarOffice is a productivity suite that is an alternative to Microsoft Office, which provides database, drawing, presentation, spreadsheet and word processing capabilities at comparatively inexpensive price.
The latest release is version 8.0, which offers interoperability with Microsoft Office, extended language support, a newly redesigned database engine and software development kit (SDK), as well as support for industry standard XML file formats and schema. The suite is available on the Linux, Solaris and Windows platform.
StarOffice also has an open source cousin called OpenOffice.org that is available free of cost. Benefits of the paid StarOffice distribution are extended product support and other technical resources.
Gifts In Kind International is a Virginia based product and service philanthropic provider that donated nearly $820 million USD in 2004. It is the largest philanthropic provider globally and the third largest in the United States and reports that it operates at approximately one quarter of the fair market value of product donations.
In addition to Gifts In Kind International, Sun is partnering with The World Bank Group's global computer donation program to extend its charitable goodwill to benefit NGOs in Zambia, Kyrgyzstan and Sri Lanka.
"The StarOffice software donation is a part of Sun's overall philanthropy program and Sun is dedicated to the success and advancement of education and technology around the world," said Kim Jones, vice president of Global Education and Research for Sun. "As we bring new products and technologies to market, Sun will continue to share its latest innovations with the education community."
A nonprofit must possess a current 501(c)(3) status or the equivalent status to be eligible as a recipient of StarOffice.