Oracle Cloud Office: Countering Google Apps, Microsoft Office Web?

Oracle Cloud Office

As Oracle digests Sun Microsystems, plenty of pundits are wondering what will become of Sun's OpenOffice.org and StarOffice efforts. On the upside, Oracle says it will keep promoting OpenOffice.org. But our resident blogger hasn't heard much about StarOffice's fate…

Oracle Cloud Office

Oh, and just to make things extra interesting: Oracle has been working on something called Oracle Cloud Office, according to Oracle Chief Corporate Architect Edward Screven. Kudos to ComputerWorld for picking up on the effort.

When will Oracle Cloud Office arrive? And will the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized partners jump on the bandwagon? Hmmm… Lots of questions. Very few answers.

But there will be plenty of SaaS competition from folks like Microsoft, Zoho and, um… Google.

As part of the forthcoming Microsoft Office 2010 launch, Microsoft is preparing an Office Web release that will reside on the Internet. Plus, certain Office 2010 enterprise licenses will permit customers to host Office Web on their own. Also, folks like Zoho continue to turn heads in some SaaS circles. And a growing number of VARs and MSPs have joined the Google Apps reseller program.

Scores of VARs and MSPs are also testing virtualized desktop solutions and hosted desktop offerings from a range of service providers. One tip for VARs: keep an eye on ChannelCloud. No doubt, Oracle Cloud Office will face plenty of competition… when it arrives.