After a month since the release of OpenOffice 3.0, Sun Microsystems has officially unveiled a major update to StarOffice, OpenOffice’s twin that comes with a price tag. StarOffice9 can run on Mac OS X, a computer operating system used by a well-known public. Among other improvements, we can find new icons, a revamped “Start Center” front end, new icons, better PDF handling, a 1024-column spreadsheet and a tool for solving optimization problems. Company officials say that over 1,600 new features have been added since StarOffice 8.

StarOffice and OpenOffice use exactly the same open-source binary code base. Unfortunately, a downloaded copy of StarOffice will cost you money, around $35. A shrink-wrapped retail box is $54.95 and volume pricing for enterprises and medium-sized businesses begins at $25 per employee head. However, StarOffice 8 was much more expensive than StarOffice 9, with a debut of $69.95 per download. An important feature that could make a user want to pay for StarOffice rather than download for free OpenOffice consists of three free support calls, if you call within 60 days of buying. Furthermore, there’s a built-in update tool that automatically downloads new code when Sun release one.

The launch of StarOffice comes even as the company prepares to shed thousands of jobs as part of a new wave of cost-cutting. StarOffice also faces increasing competition at the low end of productivity market with a range of products, including Google Docs, Think Free Office or low-cost versions of Microsoft Works. In addition, a study released on Friday found that Microsoft Word is used by about half of all Internet users, while about 5 percent use OpenOffice. Only 1 percent of all Internet users use Google Docs.