Google Brings StarOffice to the Web?

Is this the beginning of the end?

I suppose that the end is already well underway, but today's announcement of Google and Sun bringing StarOffice to your web browser could be the tipping point for open standards, interoperability, and the web-as-application-delivery-platform-of-choice that we've all been waiting for.

May questions remain, of course. Will it run as a Java applet, or will it be ported to AJAX? The former seems far more likely, given the heft of the suite, Sun's committment to Java, and the difficulting of translating StarOffice into an entirely browser-based version. Nonetheless, given recent advances by tools like Writely and Google's history of producing top-notch AJAX tools, there is hope.

Regardless of the format, this move could pose a direct threat to one of Microsoft's primary cash cows. With widespread adoption, this web office could break Redmond's stranglehold on document formats and pave the way to more complete interoperability between web-based applications and basic desktop productivity software.

Imagine being able to export data from any web application as the de facto standard word processor format, spreadsheet format, or presentation format. Or being able to upload a form your client filled out with their desktop word processor and have it seemlessly entered into your database. With Microsoft's proprietary formats, this is at best difficult, if not impossible or illegal. We could soon see the day where such crossover becomes commonplace.

UPDATE: it looks like some of the early speculation may have been misguided. It now looks more likely that Google is entering into more of a "strategic partnership" with Sun and helping to promote StarOffice and Java, rather than making the suite available as a web-based application. Via cnet, Sun stated that there are currently no plans for a Java version of StarOffice. As the conference is currently underway, we'll hopefully discover more details very soon.

UPDATE: Sigh. It looks like the whole "the world changes this week" hype was just that. Google will distribute Java via the Google Toolbar, and Sun will distribute the Google Toolbar through the Java Runtime Environment. Move along.