Clock running out on Sun StarOffice 5.2 freebie

In order to encourage sales of StarOffice 6, Sun has decided to close down free access to 5.2. You have until Midnight, May 29 to grab it right here.

Version 6.0 costs $76.00; but after the 29th you'll be able to get 5.2 for $40.00 if you want the deluxe setup and $10.00 for a stripped-down version.

You can also get 6.0 by way of Ximian Desktop starting on 1 June for $60.00, with Evolution and Red Carpet thrown in for good measure along with your sixteen dollar savings. Whether this is a full 6.0 version or a scaled-back one isn't mentioned in Ximian's marketing propaganda.

Alternatively there's OpenOffice 1.0, which offers most of the features of StarOffice 6.0 for the attractive price of no dollars. Just be careful with that auto-save feature in the word processor. If the last save you make before closing the app isn't a manual one, you may get a very unpleasant surprise when you next open that file.

Meanwhile we can't decide if we're annoyed with Sun or grateful. On the one hand the company has employed many of those who contributed to developing OpenOffice and kept the wolf from their doors. On the other hand there's something about incorporating bundles of work done by people on their own time into a commercial product that makes us slightly uneasy.

Interesting little ecosystem there... ®