Google to launch rival Office suite with Sun

In a direct challenge to Microsoft’s Office suite, Google today will announce a collaboration with Sun Microsystems on a web-based version of Sun’s StarOffice.

InternetNews reports : “StarOffice is Sun’s suite of integrated word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing and database software based on the OpenOffice open source project. StarOffice or OpenOffice users can add their own browsers and e-mail applications, while Sun offers Sun Java Communications Suite for customers that want to add messaging, collaboration, calendaring and scheduling tools.”

There have been rumors for some time that Google is developing its own browser and operating system scheduled for release this month. “The partnership with Sun seems to indicate that Google’s direction is to build out what is, in essence, an alternative to Microsoft Office. Google already offers e-mail, photo managing and instant messaging applications.”