• In June 2000, Thinkfree Inc. released Thinkfree Office, based in
Silicon Valley,
California. It is recognized as the world's first online office editor (predating
Google Docs and
Microsoft 365) and attracted significant media coverage, including reports on
CNN. • In 2001, Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer highlighted Thinkfree as a significant competitor in a magazine interview, considering it a potential threat to his company, second only to Linux. • In November 2003,
Hancom, a
South Korean office software company, signed a
memorandum of understanding and subsequently acquired Thinkfree. • In January 2004, Thinkfree expanded into other foreign markets. Subsidiary Haansoft USA, Inc. was created in
San Jose,
California to begin formal commercial operations in the US market. At the same time, a partnership was established with
Riverdeep with the purpose of improving
marketshare. • In February 2004, expansion into the Japanese market began. A commercial
agency agreement was signed with PSI in
Shinjuku,
Japan, which allowed for localized distribution. In addition, a global agreement was entered into with
Yamada Denki, one of the three main computer distributors in
Japan, for a total of 180,000 units. • In May 2006, Thinkfree Office received the "Product of the Year" award at the Well-Connected Awards,
USA. • In January 2009, Thinkfree Mobile was launched at
CES 2009 in
Las Vegas. • In April 2009, Thinkfree Live, Korea's first web office service, was launched. • In June 2018, a partnership was formed with
Amazon Web Services to integrate Thinkfree Office into WorkDocs, an
in-house office suite. • In October 2023, Hancom split its online office business unit as "Thinkfree Inc.". == References ==