Corel has unveiled a first public beta of its new WordPerfect Lightning word processing service.
The free application combines regular desktop software with online services such as the ability to share and collaborate on documents, as well as 200MB of online storage.
Corel argued that its hybrid model offers a better alternative to pure online services such as Google Documents, because they also function when users are not connected to the internet.
"By blending desktop and web applications in WordPerfect Lightning, Corel is taking a truly hybrid approach to computing, enabling users to maximise their productivity by making it simpler and faster to gather, organise and share critical information," said Richard Carriere, general manager for office productivity at Corel.
Even though the online services are free, users are still required to purchase a licence for the WordPerfect suite at $350.
The free software allows users to take notes and view shared documents in a number of formats including Microsoft's Open XML and Adobe's PDF. But editing documents requires a commercial version of WordPerfect.
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