Corel guns for Google

ONCE MIGHTY processor of words, WordPerfect will take on a new downloadable format today, as Corel posts up a free beta of WordPerfect Lightning on its website.

WordPerfect Lightning is a word processor that fits into Corel's WordPerfect Office suite.

While the suite is up against the Microsoft's Office, the downloadable word processor is something Google has had a dabble with recently.

Corel told Cnet the software was part of Corel's continued effort to combine desktop and web applications into a hybrid platform.

Lightning is made up of four components, including a Viewer with which to open Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, or WordPerfect files, and Notes, a "lightweight" word processor. The suite also connects to a bunch of web-based applications, such as e-mail, calendar and address book. µ