
The free application combines regular desktop software with online services such as the ability to share and collaborate on documents, as well as 200Mb of online storage.
The company argued that its hybrid model offers a better alternative to pure online services such as the Google Documents online text editor, because they also function when users aren't connected to the Web.
"By blending desktop and Web applications in WordPerfect Lightning, Corel is taking a truly hybrid approach to computing, enabling users to maximize their productivity by making it simpler and faster to gather, organize and share critical information," said Richard Carriere, general manager for Office Productivity at Corel.
Even though the online services are available free of charge, users are still required to purchase a license for the WordPerfect suite at a fee of US$269.99.
The free software allows users to take notes and view shared documents in a number of formats including Microsoft's Open XML and Adobe PDF. But editing documents requires a commercial version of WordPerfect.