Sun Releases StarOffice 9 for the Mac

StarOffice 9, Sun’s office suite, has just been released for the Mac. Based on OpenOffice, an open source office suite, StarOffice 9 adds native support for the Mac.

Earlier versions of both StarOffice and OpenOffice used a cross platform windowing system called X11, which allowed them to run on multiple platforms. The downside to X11 is that it’s not very Mac-like. By replacing X11 with full support for OS X’s native windowing system, Sun’s StarOffice now looks and feels like a Mac application. OpenOffice also now supports OS X’s native windowing system.

StarOffice 9 contains five major applications: Writer (word processor); Calc (spreadsheet); Draw (graphics); Base (Database); and Impress (Presentation).

StarOffice 9 is available for $34.95 (download only). Volume discounts are available for business users.