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Feature
StarOffice goes to schoolThe program offers Microsoft-free file compatibilitySummarySteven Gould and Shari Jones  un'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
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 (see Resources for a link to a LinuxWorld.com article on that topic). 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? Parkman said that Sun intends its liberal source licensing for universities to further the education process. Accepting enhancements from open source developers at universities could improve the quality and stability of the software. That benefits Sun by making its software stronger and "adding to what's available to [Sun]." Students can now view the source code, Parkaman says, and "brilliant minds all over the world" can build upon and enhance it.
Case in point, San Jose State
University At San Jose State University, price (or lack thereof) was key to choosing Linux, says Kindness Israel, director of engineering computing systems. His department is responsible for developing applications used internally by students and faculty, such as timesheet and course verification programs. As in many universities, his development environment is Unix-based, and he develops Web-based Oracle database applications on Linux. StarOffice's primary role is to enable engineers to communicate with other university departments that use Microsoft products. Israel fully supports and encourages open source and considers Sun's decision to open StarOffice's source code an "important step." He also fully supports the use of Linux in a development environment and says the faculty at San Jose State University is slowly adopting Linux as an open tool. In addition to implementing StarOffice in the engineering department, Israel is also in charge of setting up open teaching labs in which computers and word processing packages are used to teach communications skills to engineering students. Students are required to take those writing lab classes. Any word processing package would suffice in the writing lab, and Israel said in the next year he would like to see an open teaching lab running StarOffice on Linux. Why? The university has numerous older-model, low-end Sun and HP computers that can easily run Linux and StarOffice. They can easily handle compatible word processing software such as StarOffice but, due to their limited resources, the machines would be useless for development or if Microsoft Office were the only option.
Michigan Technological
University By standardizing with StarOffice, students and teachers in any department can access any document, says Chris Williams, manager and senior systems administrator for Michigan Tech's department of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics, biomedical engineering. Students may be assigned projects that span multiple disciplines and will need to use a compatible office suite. For example, students in computer science and electrical engineering may work on a joint project and need to share specific project information such as design documents or project specifications. A standard office suite that allows the import and export of multiple software packages eliminates compatibility issues. In the upper-level classes, students traditionally encountered compatibility issues, since a standard office suite was not required prior to the fall semester. They have used multiple office suites and, while they are not required to convert to StarOffice, requiring current and future freshmen to use StarOffice as a standard eliminates future incompatibility issues. Open StarOffice source code means Michigan Tech can now customize menus for each department that uses the software, Williams said. It also allows her department to adjust the look and feel of the desktop for each department and individual users. In the future, Williams said she hopes StarOffice will become an "all encompassing tool," standardizing the university's Web browser, email system, spreadsheet package, and other desktop software. Other Michigan Tech departments also use StarOffice as a standard, though on different operating systems, including Linux and Sun Solaris.
Getting it out
there Parkman says that the StarOffice NOW program allows Sun to compete aggressively in the personal productivity space. Currently, Sun has 111 fully licensed redistributors through the StarOffice NOW program. In a recent Sun press release, Mike Jones, IT director at Moreland School District in San Jose, Calif., said, "The StarOffice NOW program offers our students and faculty the opportunity to use the robust StarOffice productivity suite. Our district is comprised of K-8 public schools in which students working on different platforms need to have a productivity suite that runs on almost all of them."
What's
next? The academic community is attracted to the freely available StarOffice source code because members can customize it to better meet the needs of faculty, staff, and students. Sun's distribution plan for bundling StarOffice with other software, Parkman says, was designed to make it as easy as possible for universities to widely distribute and implement the software. As such, it serves as a learning tool for students who use StarOffice in required projects and enhances communications between departments that previously were hampered by incompatible systems. StarOffice, along with Linux and Solaris, also provides a way for universities to use out-of-date equipment that otherwise would remain useless. 
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