StarOffice takes to the skies

Sun will integrate StarOffice into Singapore Airlines' Krisworld free entertainment service

Sun Microsystems will be offering its StarOffice suite to Singapore Airlines passengers on certain international flights. 

Sun has agreed to a deal that will integrate StarOffice into Singapore Airlines' Krisworld free entertainment service in its Boeing 777-300ER planes. StarOffice is Sun's implementation of the open source OpenOffice productivity suite.

"With heightened security, access to laptops during flights can sometimes be restricted," explained Wong Heng Chew, managing director of Sun's Singapore branch.

"The availability of StarOffice as part of Krisworld offers Singapore Airlines customers the opportunity to work on and access information in an open, secure and freely available fashion."

The StarOffice service will be built into the systems, but users will need to supply their own USB mouse and keyboard. Krisworld allows users to load and store documents through a USB storage device.

Documents can be saved as StarOffice OpenXML or PDF files, both of which are compatible with Microsoft Office. 

Krisworld-equipped planes only fly from Singapore to Barcelona, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Milan, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul and Zurich. The company plans to expand the service to other routes at a later date.