Re: [school-discuss] 03/26/02 - SUN MICROSYSTEMS AND MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ANNOUNCE STAROFFICE DONATION

[Ben Armstrong <synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca>]

On Thu, May 16, 2002 at 08:57:08AM -0700, Chris Calise wrote:
> 03/26/02 - SUN MICROSYSTEMS AND MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ANNOUNCE STAROFFICE DONATION
> But will they do the same for US schools???

I doubt it.  But does it matter?

> Or is this just an attempt to look good while hooking the Chinese on Star
> Office so a few years from now they can charge?

A corporation, trying to look good by making a donation? Hardly worth
mentioning.  A corporation, trying to gain a foothold in a vast, global
market? Nothing terribly out of the ordinary.  Corporations have the best
interest of the corporation in mind in whatever they do.

Whatever feelings I have about Sun's strategies with other products, I'm
cheering them from the sidelines for this move.  What weakens M$ is good for
open source.  Furthermore, it is not an insignificant detail that SO is
built on the open source OO core.  So more specifically, what hurts M$
Office helps OpenOffice.

Ben
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