Mountain View, California - (Website Hosting Directory) - August 22, 2006 - Earlier this year, Google acquired an online word processor company named Upstartle. The company's core product was branded Writely, and has been largely unavailable to the general web population until a few days ago.

According to the www.writely.com website and blog, the service has re-opened its Writely account beta program. In itself, that's not anything really all that newsworthy. What is newsworthy is that Google has let the re-opening of the service go virtually unannounced while concurrently issuing an official company press release etitled, Google Makes Trek to Las Vegas; Lands at Creation Entertainment's 40th Anniversary Star Trek Convention. Hardly the type of ''news'' that many online feel should supercede what amounts to a siginifcant new product development.

In fact, several online sources are characterizing the developments as a virtual Google coverup of the Writely re-opening. The Ineedhits.com website used terms like, ''sneaky'' and ''secret'' to describe Google's behavior. WebProNews echoed these sentiments by also using the term ''sneaked' and 'quiet'' to describe Google's decision to make the Writely beta open again.

The Writely beta debuted in August 2005 and was aquired by Google in March of 2006. The service had been reqstricted to only existing members since Google acquired the company. Writely provides a free online word processor which is considered to be an alternative and potential competitor to more traditional locally-run word processing software - notably programs like Microsoft Word.

The Writely website touts the following advantages of the Writely beta: ability to share documents instantly and collaborate real-time; ability to pick exactly who can access your documents; capability to edit your documents from anywhere; no download required;. and the ability to store your documents securely online.

To learn more, or to sign up for the Writely beta, please visit: www.writely.com/?action=register.