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SUN MICROSYSTEMS OPEN SOURCES STAROFFICE TECHNOLOGY

Source Code Offered Via GNU General Public License and to Reside atwww.OpenOffice.org

PALO ALTO, CA - July 19, 2000 - Today at the O'Reilly Open SourceConvention in Monterey, California, Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced itwill release the source code of its StarOffice (TM) Suite, a leading, highquality, office productivity application software suite, to the open sourcecommunity under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Sun also announcedOpenOffice.org will be formed and managed by Collab.Net and will serve asthe coordination point for the source code, the definition of XML-basedfile formats, and the definition of language-independent office applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs.)

StarOffice is the leading, full-featured productivity suite for all majorplatforms, including Solaris (TM) Operating Environment, Windows, Linux,and, later in the year, the Macintosh. StarOffice 6, the next versioncurrently in development, will serve as the source code base forOpenOffice.org. With the upcoming StarOffice 6 technology, the nextgeneration architecture of separate applications and componentized serviceswill be introduced.

"Sun's open-sourcing of StarOffice Suite is the single largest open-sourcesoftware contribution in GPL history and it adds a key application suite tothe open source portfolio," said Marco Boerries, vice president andgeneral manager of webtop and application software at Sun Microsystems,Inc. "This announcement will leverage StarOffice Suite's role as theleading productivity suite for multiple platforms and will further increaseour momentum as the only competitive alternative to other office suites.Sun will also continue to develop and aggressively market future versionsof StarOffice Suite, which will be based on OpenOffice.org."

"Since innovation happens in many places, making the source code forStarOffice Suite available will enable the enormous community of developersto bring their expertise and energy to improve and expand the reach ofthis full-featured software suite. But OpenOffice.org is much more thanjust source code--it also includes APIs and XML-file formats. This willallow developers to easily work across platforms and have a huge impact,"said Boerries.

About OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org will host StarOffice source code. OpenOffice.Org will alsospecify XML file formats for documents; specify language-independent APIs;and provide Microsoft Office file filters, so developers can more easilymodify existing programs and customize specific applications to fit theirneeds.

Widespread community support

OpenOffice.org has already garnered major industry support from manyopen-source luminaries, including Tim O'Reilly, Miguel de Icaza, BrianBehlendorf, and Andy Hertzfeld.

"Microsoft's lock in on its Office file formats is arguably at least asimportant to their monopoly position as their control of the operatingsystem itself," said Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly andAssociates. "The availability of StarOffice under the GPL will give Linuxa boost on the desktop, but more importantly, the wide availability ofStarOffice Suite's code for reading and writing Microsoft Office formatswill allow other open source projects to provide compatible functionalityas well. Open data is the other side of the open source coin."

"Sun's announcement to make their office suite free software under the GPLand SISSL licenses will be a benefit to everyone. Their choice of Bonoboas a component framework will enable powerful scripting and code reuse notonly on the desktop, but on the system as a whole," said Miguel de Icaza,president and founder of HelixCode Inc. "When I started GNOME three yearsago, I had two goals: a 100% free, easy-to-use desktop environment andcomponent architecture for GNU/Linux. With Helix Code and Sun workingtogether, we can finally see this vision realized. The GNOME community isnow investigating the best way to integrate these technologies justreleased with the GNOME environment with the goal to bring a comprehensivesolution to everyone."

"The release of StarOffice under an open source license is a tremendouslycool thing," said Brian Behlendorf, co-founder and CTO of Collab.Net. "Theinfluence of closed standards and proprietary software has made the officeproductivity application space an extremely difficult arena for the opensource community to address. Sun's action today resolves this problem byproviding a much needed application."

"One of the last remaining barriers to wide-spread adoption of Open Sourcesoftware on the desktop is the paucity of high quality, easy-to-useapplications. Today's announcement of the GPLing of Star Office goes along way toward filling that gap," said Andy Hertzfeld, co-founder ofEazel, a leading Linux development software company. "Everyone at Eazel isvery excited to work with Sun's talented team to integrate theirworld-class productivity applications with the Gnome desktop."

Major Linux companies, including Red Hat, Caldera, SuSE, TurboLinux, EasyLinux, Mandrakesoft, Stormix, Conectivia, Definite Software PLC, andMacmillan, have signed agreements to redistribute StarOffice(TM) 5.2software, making it the number one office productivity suite for Linux andmost have pledged support for OpenOffice.org.

"We support Sun's commitment to an open desktop for all UNIX/Linuxenvironments," says Paul McNamara, vice president of Products andPlatforms, Red Hat Linux, Inc. "The availability of professionalapplications like StarOffice software with Red Hat Linux only serves tofurther validate the platform and the future growth potential of Linux."

"Sun strengthens their commitment to the Linux community with theirannouncement to open source StarOffice," said Dean Taylor, vice president of marketingfor Caldera Systems, Inc. "This combination of StarOffice performance andOpenLinux reliability, helps us deliver a quality product and neededapplication to the Linux community."

"As a Linux solutions provider, SuSE helps consumers, small tomedium-sized businesses, corporations, government agencies and educatorsaround the world make informed decisions when purchasing computertechnology," said Roland Dyroff, CEO SuSE Linux AG. "With Sun's commitmentto open source StarOffice this expands the market for productimplementations based on open standards."

"As long time supporters of StarOffice software on Linux, MandrakeSoft isexcited Sun is making the source code available. The benefits that theopen source community will bring to this feature rich suite will continuethe momentum in the market for this exciting alternative to MicrosoftOffice," said Frederic Bastok, COO of MandrakeSoft, a leading Linux publisher.

For more quotes from leading Linux vendors, please visitwww.sun.com/developers/openoffice

Release of the StarOffice source code will reside at www.openoffice.organd will be managed by Collab.Net, a provider of collaborative softwaredevelopment services based on open source principles. Collab.Net iscreating the project hosting infrastructure for the openoffice.org site.This single solution offers a medium for hosting source code andaccessing a robust set of software development tools. This environment isa cohesive Web-based, open source development platform that providessimple, powerful and intuitive access to features including: codeversioning, source code browsing, automatic change notification, mailinglists and discussion forums and issue tracking Web administration.

In addition to the GPL, Sun intends that all code contributions to theOpenOffice.org project, including Sun's contribution of the StarOfficesource code, will be made available under the Sun Industry Standards SourceLicense (SISSL). This dual-licensing approach is designed to allow allorganizations and individuals to use the source code freely and openly asthey choose. An important requirement of the SISSL license is that itrequires compatibility with the GPL reference implementation of theOpenOffice.org source code, including APIs and file formats. Copies of boththe GPL and the SISSL licenses are available athttp://www.openoffice.org/licensing/

In addition, Sun also announced today the new OpenOffice.org Foundation,which will initially be modeled on other successful open source projectsand will consist of a project management committee, source codemaintainers, and developers. Sun will hold aequal membership position in the OpenOffice.org Foundation projectmanagement committee.

About StarOffice

StarOffice Suite offers a feature-rich single desktop environment, withtools such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings,web-publishing, email, scheduling and database applications that offerbusinesses and individuals an alternative to proprietary office suites.For more information regarding OpenOffice.org and the StarOffice sourcecode, visit http://www.openoffice.org andhttp://www.sun.com/staroffice/opensource.

Availability

The StarOffice source code is scheduled to be available to the open sourcecommunity on October 13, 2000. Sun will retain copyright to the sourcecode and Sun's ongoing engineering work on StarOffice software will be doneas part of OpenOffice.org. Beginning with StarOffice 6.0, a branded versionof the OpenOffice.org reference implementation will be made available underthe StarOffice software brand.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is TheComputer[tm]" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW) to itsposition as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, softwareand services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to".com" their businesses. With $14.2 billion in annual revenues, Sun can befound in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web athttp://www.sun.com.

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Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo, StarOffice, Solaris, and the NetworkIs The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunMicrosystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.