The Ulteo Desktop software installs a collection of Linux programs into Windows, accessed with their own Start button and Taskbar. Files can either be saved on the Windows computer or syncronised with an Ulteo account.

This syncronisation means that registration is required to use the software. This is without charge and only requires an email address. Having been signed up for a few weeks we have only received a handful of emails so this is no problem.

Many of the programs installed with Ulteo, such as Firefox, Thunderbird and Openoffice, will be familiar to Windows users but there are others that are not available as ordinary Windows programs.

The ability to syncronise files is very useful and it is a good way to experiment with Linux software without having to make any big changes to a computer.

Both printing and sound are supported.