The S-Star Trial Bioinformatics on-line course (www.s-star.org) is a global experiment in bioinformatics distance education. Six universities from five continents have participated in this project. One hundred and fifty students participated in the first trial course of which 96 followed through the entire course and 70 fulfilled the overall course requirements. The course was built up of 12 lectures covering different basic and advanced topics within bioinformatics. The lectures consist of streaming video and synchronized slides with follow-up discussion forums and a final assessment. It draws on experts from diverse institutions to share their teaching expertise and resources via distance learning. A major goal of S-Star is to provide free introductory web-based education. Here we present the outline of the course, experiences from a global collaboration, and feedback from the first trial of the on-line S-Star course. (Contains 2 tables, 1 figure and 1 footnote.)