“Still absent from the picture is StarPortal, a version of
StarOffice that users will be able to access over the Internet and
use as a service. While StarOffice resides on a desktop,
StarPortal can be hosted on a server by a business or an ASP
(application service provider) and accessed using a Web browser.
Microsoft is developing a server-based version of Microsoft
Office.”
“Sun originally said it would release StarPortal in the first
half of 2000, but the product has yet to materialize. In July, a
Sun spokesman said the company hoped to begin testing a beta, or
preview, version of the product soon with a few hundred users, with
a view to rolling it out by the end of the third quarter.”
“On Monday, Roth and another Sun spokesman were not immediately
able to provide a progress update on StarPortal but confirmed that
it has yet to be released.”