Sun Microsystems, pushing its network vision for computing, said Tuesday that it had acquired Star Division, a niche producer of an office application suite that it sees as a Web - based alternative to Microsoft 's dominant PC-centric software.
StarOffice, which runs on Microsoft and non-Microsoft operating systems, is distributed free online, and as such has become the office applications suite of choice for users of the Linux OS. Sun will continue to offer the software for free on the Net, or for sale on CD.
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AOL, eBay launch co-branded site
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IBM snares $2 billion Cisco deal
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More significantly, Sun (SUNW) plans to move Star's applications beyond the computer, retooling them for use with handhelds, cell phones, and other "thin clients," thus offering the look and feel of Microsoft Office but with added flexibility and portability.Sun dubbed the new initiative "StarPortal," and said "early-access versions" of it would be available later this fall. "When I am on the road, I access my corporate desktop from a Web browser," Sun chief executive Scott McNealy said. "I don't like to carry my laptop around.... I want everything I have residing somewhere on the network on a server, as opposed to something bundled in a personal mainframe under my arm." Sun said StarPortal–as well as traditional versions of StarOffice–will include tools for word processing, presentation graphics, and spreadsheets, among other functions.
- Back to topThe 10-hour gap: A reporter from the newspaper that told Microsoft that Hotmail accounts had a gaping security hole said Tuesday he was surprised how long it took the company to remedy the problem.
"I thought it would take minutes or half an hour until the security was fixed," said Christian Carrwik of the Swedish newspaper Expressen, "but [it] took 10 hours from the time I spoke to them." In the interim, casual users, armed only with a Hotmail user name, could log into the accounts of others simply by typing that username into one of many Web pages set up to take advantage of the bug.Microsoft eventually shut down the free email service, not once but twice, before fully rectifying the problem. 6. Back to topDouble trouble: Internet auctioneer eBay and Web service provider AOL on Tuesday announced a co - branded site. The companies said in a statement that the site was designed to provide AOL members access to eBay 's site, presented in an AOL format.
The co-branded eBay site became available to AOL members Tuesday. It will be promoted across several AOL Channels, or content categories.
The launch is the latest in a series of joint efforts between the two companies that date back to December 1997. "The co-branded site will make access to eBay much easier for AOL'
s more than 18 million members, " said Steve Westly, eBay's vice president of marketing and business development.
7. Back to topTech genius grants: The best way to draw out the next tech entrepreneur extraordinaire is by dangling cold hard cash. That's how the Japanese Trade Ministry sees things, and that's why it's proposing handing out checks for 100 million yen (US$900,000) each to 100 "genius programmers" over the next five years.
The scheme comes in response to Japan's dismal economic performance in the '90s, which has partly been blamed on its dirth of entrepreneurial verve. According to the daily Asahi Shimbun, the ministry was asking for 2 billion yen in funding for the first year of the program, which it would dole out to 20 code crunchers.
- Back to topMore for Big Blue: IBM on Tuesday announced another multibillion-dollar services and supply deal, its fifth in recent months. The latest is a five-year, $2 billion agreement to sell Cisco Systems patents and intellectual property for network equipment like hubs and routers, and expand the sale of custom computer chips for Cisco equipment.
IBM (IBM) earlier this year unveiled a $16 billion deal with Dell, as well as agreements with Nintendo, Acer Group, and EMC.
- Back to topGoing global: AT&T said Tuesday that it had signed a five-year deal to help Net2Phone extend its Net telephony services around the world. The company said the contract would generate more than $100 million in revenue.
AT&T (T) said that by providing managed IP networking services through its Global Network Services – recently acquired from IBM – it would allow Net2Phone (NTOP) services to extend into 17 countries. Net2Phone's centerpiece products are software that allows a personal computer to be used as a phone as an alternative to dialing long distance.
Reuters contributed to this report.
