B
Binyamin Dissen
Adapted from Jerusalem Post / Dec. 28, 2003
Israeli Treasury to give away Microsoft Office alternative
By Yehezkel Laing
The Finance Ministry said Sunday it will begin distributing Open Office, a
suite of basic software programs similar to Microsoft Office, for free as of
next week. The ministry said that it would begin to distribute thousands of
Open Office CD-ROMs at public computer centers and later on at community
centers throughout the country. The offer is expected to last throughout
2004.
The Open Office suite includes a word processing program, a spreadsheet
program similar to Excel, a presentation manager similar to PowerPoint, as
well as a drawing program. The suite can be downloaded for free from
http://www.openoffice.co.il.
The Treasury also said that free email and Internet portal programs can be
downloaded from Mozilla. All the programs can be run on the Linux operating
system which can also be downloaded free.
Open Office was originally created under the name of StarOffice by
StarDivision, a German company founded in the mid-1980s.
StarDivision was subsequently acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999. During
the past year the programs were translated into Hebrew by Sun and IBM, with
the assistance of the Finance Ministry.
The ministry said its goal is to lower the price of a computer in a bid to
reduce the technological gap between rich and poor.
But the offer is also believed to be a bid to break Microsoft's monopoly on
the Israeli software market. Microsoft Office, which can cost up to NIS
2,000, is currently installed on almost every personal computer sold in
Israel, drastically increasing the price of a computer.
Analysts of the software market say that while Linux is a having some
success in selling its operating system, especially in the business field,
its still a very long way from breaking Microsoft's iron grip.
This article can also be read at
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1072587532143
(Link requires registration)
Israeli Treasury to give away Microsoft Office alternative
By Yehezkel Laing
The Finance Ministry said Sunday it will begin distributing Open Office, a
suite of basic software programs similar to Microsoft Office, for free as of
next week. The ministry said that it would begin to distribute thousands of
Open Office CD-ROMs at public computer centers and later on at community
centers throughout the country. The offer is expected to last throughout
2004.
The Open Office suite includes a word processing program, a spreadsheet
program similar to Excel, a presentation manager similar to PowerPoint, as
well as a drawing program. The suite can be downloaded for free from
http://www.openoffice.co.il.
The Treasury also said that free email and Internet portal programs can be
downloaded from Mozilla. All the programs can be run on the Linux operating
system which can also be downloaded free.
Open Office was originally created under the name of StarOffice by
StarDivision, a German company founded in the mid-1980s.
StarDivision was subsequently acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999. During
the past year the programs were translated into Hebrew by Sun and IBM, with
the assistance of the Finance Ministry.
The ministry said its goal is to lower the price of a computer in a bid to
reduce the technological gap between rich and poor.
But the offer is also believed to be a bid to break Microsoft's monopoly on
the Israeli software market. Microsoft Office, which can cost up to NIS
2,000, is currently installed on almost every personal computer sold in
Israel, drastically increasing the price of a computer.
Analysts of the software market say that while Linux is a having some
success in selling its operating system, especially in the business field,
its still a very long way from breaking Microsoft's iron grip.
This article can also be read at
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1072587532143
(Link requires registration)