CrossOver Officer allows users to run Microsoft Office natively on Linux desktops. Based on the WINE Project (of which Codeweavers is a major backer), CrossOver Office is intended to allow users to run Lotus Notes, Office 2000, Office XP, Quicken and Visio 2000 inside Linux. CrossOver Office Server Edition allows organizations to host their Windows applications on Linux servers.

That's just fine for clients sitting on Local Area Networks (LANs), Guy Churchward, director of marketing and business development for Tarantella, told internetnews.com. That's because LANs generally have enough bandwidth to handle Windows' feature rich protocols and push them out to clients. But Churchward said delivering those apps over the Internet to remote or mobile users who deal with low or varying bandwidth is a different story entirely.

That's where Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Tarantella comes in. Tarantella adds its Tarantella Enterprise 3 software to the mix, providing a non-intrusive, three tier modular architecture to provide universal access to applications. It requires no modification of the clients, networks, applications or servers; users simply access their applications through a unified web-based interface.

"It allows you to deliver an application in the same way as you deliver a Web page," Churchward said. "Any application to any client, anywhere."

The Tarantella software supports industry standard application platform protocols RDP, X11, VT, 3270 and 5250, translates on the fly and then delivers the applications without modification, using its patented Adaptive Internet Protocol (AIP) to deliver consistent LAN performance over a varying WAN connection.

Tarantella's software will allow CrossOver Office Server Edition to deliver Microsoft Office apps to just about any client. At it's base, Tarantella's freely available client software only requires Java to run, but even devices that don't have a browser or are incapable of running Java applets can be supported, according to Churchward, with a custom binary for native client implementation. In some cases, Tarantella has even added features, like its native client implementation for Windows CE .NET devices, which adds screen re-sizing capabilities to give users a better browsing experience.

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