OpenOffice.org Goes Online with SAAS Version

Do you really like OpenOffice.org as your office suite? Would you like to be able to use it on any computer with an Internet connection? If you answered yes to both those questions, you'll be interested in Ulteo's beta of Ulteo Online Desktop, which allows the use of OpenOffice.org over the Internet as SAAS (software as a service).

Ulteo is a new company that's working towards developing an online desktop that combines office functionality, courtesy of the open-source OpenOffice.org 2.3 office suite, and common Internet services such as e-mail and Web browsing.

/zimages/1/28571.gifClick here to read eWEEK Labs' review of OpenOffice.org 2.3.

The French company was founded by Gael Duval. Duval is well known in Linux circles as the founder of Mandrake, now Mandriva, Linux.

Duval was fired from Mandriva in 2006 after disagreeing with its management over the company's direction.

He immediately started work on his next project, Ulteo.

Ulteo, the software, began life as a Debian/Ubuntu-based Linux distribution.

Duval and his partners then decided to transform the project into a Web-based office suite that incorporates elements of both SAAS and a thin-client offering.

In an interview, Duval explained, "Our ultimate goal is to provide any existing application, including open-source apps, Windows, AJAX [Asynchronous JavaScript and XML] apps, [and] Flash apps, through the Ulteo service, without any installation or maintenance headache. Just click and use."

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