In what is being termed as a direct challenge to Microsoft’s dominance in office applications, Google (News - Alert) has announced the addition of StarOffice to its Google Pack, which is a free collection of recommended software programs from the company.

 

The company already introduced its own online word processors and spreadsheet systems for a far lesser price than Microsoft’s (News - Alert) office applications.

 

Google says its applications are for the small and medium sized business house which cannot afford the hefty prices of Microsoft Office Applications. The company issued statements saying it believes that users should have choice in their online and PC experience. According to a report on vnunet.com, the inclusion of Sun’s StarOffice into Google applications has also given birth to rumors that Google may integrate its own word processing programs and spreadsheets into this application over a period of time.  

 

StarOffice is Sun Microsystems' (News - Alert) proprietary office suite software package. It is the basis of the free and open source OpenOffice.org package, and contains some additional features. StarOffice usually costs $70 (£35) but is free as part of the latest version of the Google Pack. Google says it partnered with Sun because it believes that the users should have access to a free, full-featured office suite for the desktop.

 

Although the details of the partnership were not revealed, analysts believe that Google will be paying Sun some amount for the free distribution of its office software. Google may support this free software in the same manner it has supported its other online applications; with advertisements.

 

The relationship between Google and Sun Microsystems dates back to 2005 when the two companies partnered to tie their products.