Google Inc., the world’s most- used Internet search engine, and Sun Microsystems Inc. joined forces to offer online word processing and spreadsheet functions in a direct challenge to Microsoft Corp.’s dominance.
Google will distribute Sun’s OpenOffice.org software for personal computers, the companies said Tuesday at a news conference in Google’s hometown of Mountain View, Calif.
Some downloaded Sun programs also will include Google’s toolbar.
The alliance may present one of the strongest competitors to Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft’s Office word-processing and spreadsheet products, which generated $11 billion in sales last fiscal year. Google is using Sun to accelerate its battle with Microsoft, adding a missing piece to its growing list of features that include the Google toolbar, e-mail and desktop search.
“This really should be seen as competition heating up between Google and Microsoft, with Sun providing the ammunition,” said Michael Cohen, a San Diego-based analyst for Pacific American Securities. Cohen owns shares of Sun.
The companies didn’t say how Google will deliver the programs, or whether or when they will be available on Google’s sites.
“We need the benefit of their brand,” Jonathan Schwartz, Sun’s president, said in an interview. “They need the benefit of our technology.”
Google will pay Sun each time a customer downloads Sun’s Java desktop software with the Google toolbar, Schwartz said.
The alliance comes 18 months after Sun chief executive Scott McNealy and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer patched up a feud and agreed to make their products more compatible. Microsoft also agreed to pay Sun almost $2 billion to settle legal disputes.
At Google, CEO Eric Schmidt is pushing further into Microsoft’s territory. The company has moved beyond Internet search, where it leads Microsoft and Yahoo, into desktop search, allowing users to plow through all files on their PCs.
The Google toolbar, which sits on the desktop and links users to websites, e-mail and other products, is a linchpin in the company’s challenge to Microsoft. Google could add “tens of millions” of customers through Sun’s downloads, Schmidt said.
That will help Google “monetize” its toolbar by selling more advertising, Schmidt said.
