CES OpenOffice has been updated to support U3 USB Flash drives, the organisation behind the portable Home folder technology said today.

OpenOffice 2.0 can be run from any U3-branded Flash disk. The software automatically ensures that any preferences files and documents it creates are stored on the removable disk and not on the host PC. The upshot - the software can be used on any compatible computer without the need to install the application first.

U3, a joint venture between Flash disk companies M Systems and SanDisk, was launched a year ago at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Since then SanDisk and companies such as Memorex, Kingston, Intuix and Verbatim, along with the Disgo and Busbi brands, have released U3-compatible products. Today, U3 said PQI and TwinMOS had also launched compatible devices.

Mozilla's FireFox and Thunderbird apps already support U3 operation and, alongside today's OpenOffice announcement, U3 said the Maxthon web browser and the ThinkFree suites of office productivity applications are also now U3 aware. So too is Yahoo!'s Toolbar software, via Firefox. ®