While Microsoft quietly pursues developing new servers for its Microsoft Office applications, Sun Microsystems" StarOffice and the open-source OpenOffice.org are taking another route with their applications. Citing security, portability and deployment benefits, both see offering server-based applications as a future option. In fact, Sun took it so seriously that it went down this path several years ago.
"We talked about a server version of office in 2000 and 2001, and demonstrated [it] at JavaOne 2001," said Manish Punjabi, group marketing manager for the user software group at Sun Microsystems Inc. "Three years ago, one could argue the timing was off because the economy was relatively low and the market wasn"t ready to absorb it."