System for and method of providing a document sharing service in combination with remote access to document applications

摘要

A system for and methods of providing a document sharing service in combination with remote access to document editor and/or viewer applications is disclosed. A hosting service of a client-server computing system includes a network of one or more host computers, a document sharing server that further includes a document sharing service, and a document database for storing shared documents. Methods of the disclosure include a method of creating a document and saving to the document sharing service, a method of a user accessing a document available through the document sharing service, and a method of selecting a computer of the client-server computing system on which to launch the requested document editor/viewer application. Further, the client-server computing system supports three classes of client devices, wherein each of the three classes provides unique functionality with respect to the document sharing service.