Sun's decision in October to open StarOffice 6.0's source code represents one of the most significant recent announcements in the open source arena. The impact of opening a major office suite's source code remains to be seen as individuals, companies, and educational institutions explore ways to enhance and customize the software.

Sun targeted the higher education market with the move, which is proving to be mutually beneficial to Sun and its StarOffice end users as the worldwide academic community embraces the software.

Sun's liberal source licensing in numerous ways opens the doors of opportunity for universities and their students, says Phil Parkman, Sun's director of operations for Webtop and applications software, including StarOffice.

This article explores the benefits open source software brings to students, in particular future computer scientists and engineers. It also describes how StarOffice, running on Linux and Sun Solaris, is being used in educational settings.

Schools and students reap the benefits

While their daily tasks require a Unix-based system, engineers in computer science, management information systems (MIS), engineering, and other technical departments still must communicate with others in universities, which often use Microsoft Office products. Technical students often use different Unix flavors and need a compatible office suite to work on class projects. As a result, engineers, faculty, and students require an office suite that allows them to access documents from any platform. That traditionally required a separate PC taking up space on a desk alongside a Unix workstation. According to Sonja Thieme, who is part of Sun's sales development education team, engineering and MIS departments now can "get rid of their PCs" and use their Unix workstations running StarOffice to communicate with Microsoft-based users.

StarOffice use is not isolated to universities -- through the America's Promise Program, some school districts are implementing the software running on Linux. The national program is chaired by retired General Colin Powell and supported by Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison, who also heads his company's program. The Promise programs dovetail and focus on providing computers for schools in low-income neighborhoods. The program presented 1,100 new Linux-based Internet computers to the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) this May. In the first pilot program, 50 computers were installed at DISD's Booker T. Washington High School, a magnet school for the visual and performing arts, and the remaining computers were distributed across DISD. Although the school district uses Microsoft-based PCs in its current environment, the new Oracle computers run Linux and StarOffice, to which the district is considering a migration.

What's in it for Sun?

The concept of open source licensing for universities is nothing new to Sun, according to Parkman, who says Sun promoted the idea "long before open source was a buzzword."

Parkman said that Sun intends

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