Google preps online word processor

Google has acquired a start-up which has developed a word processor accessible through a web browser

Google has agreed to acquire Upstartle, an early stage start-up which has developed a word processor accessible through a web browser. 

Upstartle's Writely application is currently in beta and does not allow any new users to sign-up. The software lets users share and edit documents through a web browser and provides online storage. 

The software has a similar look and feel to text editors such as those included with Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.

Writely supports most common document standards including those created in Microsoft Word and the Open Document Framework standard used in OpenOffice.
The acquisition will not only speed up development of the application and provide a vast pool of potential users, but should quench privacy concerns.

Some users had raised concerns over trusting documents to a start-up. "We are no longer a tiny start-up," the company's co-founder, Claudia Carpenter, noted on the Writely blog. 

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition closed on Monday but was not unveiled until Thursday when Google and Writely announced the agreement on their blogs. 

Rumours have connected Google to an online productivity suite in the past. When the search company scheduled a press conference with Sun Microsystems last October, some speculated that it would unveil a hosted version of OpenOffice.

The two companies instead ended up unveiling a partner agreement that bundled the Google Search bar with downloads of the Java Runtime Engine.