Google and Sun team up
Google and Sun team up
Oct 5, 2005: Google and Sun Microsystems have announced a strategic partnership that will see them promoting and distributing each other's software technology.
Falling short of what some believed would be a joint development announcement, the partnership will see Sun include the Google toolbar as an option in its consumer downloads of the Java Runtime Environment. Google will in turn distribute Sun's Java platform and its open source desktop productivity suite OpenOffice.org.
"Sun has long recognised that network innovation is vital to the evolution of the global economy," said Scott McNealy, chief executive officer, Sun Microsystems. "Working with Google will make our technologies available more broadly, increase options for users, lower barriers and expand participation worldwide."
With around 20 million downloads of Java a month, the inclusion of Google's toolbar will help it reach a much broader audience, which will in turn help Google make Sun's technologies more broadly available. "What Netscape did for the Java Runtime, we now believe the Java Runtime can do for the Google Toolbar," said McNealy.
So are big things afoot? Well, time will tell, but something is definitely on the way. What the partnership may signal is a growing rivalry to Microsoft's Office suite with Google bringing new punch to Sun's OpenOffice.org. Sun's "the network is the computer" philosophy couldn't work better with Google's software technology, and whilst Google has yet to discuss their future involvement with OpenOffice, both companies' dedication to "software as service" as McNealy put it, may spell trouble for Microsoft.
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