Computer maker Sun and Web search company Google said they would jointly promote the Java Desktop, which runs thousands of PC programs, and OpenOffice, Sun’s free office productivity software that aims to compete with Microsoft’s Office.
Under the deal, Sun said it will include the Google Toolbar as an option when consumers download Java for the desktop.
Sun and Google share a common lineage, key employees at Google have worked at Sun, and both are rivals of Microsoft, the world’s largest software company. By giving Google access to Sun’s desktop and business productivity software, the deal marks the latest move by Google to compete more directly vs. Microsoft.
“I think it’s a pretty natural partnership here,” Scott McNealy, chief executive of Sun Microsystems, told a news conference in Silicon Valley.
“Working with Google will make our technologies available more broadly, increase options for users, lower barriers, and expand participation worldwide,” McNealy said in a statement.
Financial terms were not disclosed. “There is going to be a lot of money flowing both ways if we do this thing right,” McNealy said.
The companies said the agreement seeks to make it easier for millions of users to obtain Sun’s Java desktop software, the Google Toolbar and OpenOffice.org in what they said was “the next wave of Internet growth.”
“The Google Toolbar offers useful Internet search services while Java enables richer interactive content,” Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said. “We look forward to exploring other related areas of collaboration.”
Please look at the header, folks. This ain’t John.
I can only speak for myself; but, I started using OpenOffice a few years back — and took several years worth of proposals, spreadsheets and other business documents right along with the switch away from Microsoft Office.
I was worried when I left the Wintel world, this year [after 22 years] and switched to a Mac. But, NeoOffice/J — which uses Java to bring the OpenOffice package over to OS X — has maintained interoperability and access to my archived files. Nary a problem.
I like Google and I don’t like Sun. Interesting move.
Mmmm … just imagine … a 100% web based (ie: Web 2.0 / Ajax / DHTML / CSS / Whatever) Open Office offering with a Google backed 2 GB Personal File System Space … Mmmm …. that would just KILL M$, wouldn’t it???
Mario
I’m already using Open Office and have been for over a year. I think it’s one of the best kept secrets out there. For some reason you have to download it zipped. I find that annoying but many find it insolvable. Having got past that it works as well as MSO and of course it’s free. So I’m using OO, Firefox, Thunderbird… Later this week I’m going to be doing some research into whether secure Google works outside of San Francisco. Lifehacker says it does. Now all Google has to do is preload all this with a distro of Linux on a machine (I’m not smart enough to install Linux.) and give it to me for free. I’ll buy something… sooner or later.
It would take a long time for any combined sharing of the two to infiltrate the enterprise market. MS Office has a lot of momentum behind it, and IT people are notoriously conservative, and rightly so. It may force MS to be more competitive in Office pricing, which is ridiculous. How much more innovation can you add to a word processor and spread sheet anyway? I really doubt that many organizations use the collaboration tools that much. Heck, most users could revert to Office 97 without flinching. If you want patches and support, you got to keep the upgrades coming.
The Google-Microsoft battle is nothing less than a fundamental difference of opinion regarding the future of how we interact with our data, our applications, and each other.
There’s no way of knowing which way the battle will evolve, but we can rest assured that Google and Microsoft will continue to evolve their respective strategies, and there will be lots more partnerships in the months and years to come.
It’ll be a great show for us all because these two leviathans will be forced to deliver at the top of their game – to the benefit of us all. Pass the popcorn.
i think M$ really had a bid headache right now.. hehe
Don’t get me wrong, I wish that it were so with all my heart, but there is no such thing as a Microsoft Killer. The statement “My Mum uses Windows” carries a lot of meaning. My Mum also uses Ask Jeeves, despite my installing the google toolbar for her. This and my constant badgering about how uncooperative M$ are has NO effect on her. She needs to use familiar apps, buttons, menus et cetera. She absolutly hated open office on suse linux running a KDE theme that mimicked Windows exactly. How did she flaw the Pepsi challenge? “It doesn’t feel right”, she said!!
Hearts and minds baby, hearts and minds.
After just this morning teaching one of my users how to kill the annoying “Reading Layout” in Word 2003 which, by default, opens email attachments in a completely different (and completely weird, by comparison) way than any previous version all I can say is: Bring it on Google! I’d love to see Open Office become a legitimate and acceptable alternative to the increasingly tinsel laden MS Office.
Microsoft got a stranglehold on the desktop when they intermediated between the user and the PC hardware by setting OS standards. By offering IE, they have temporarily and partially done the same for the Internet. Sun and Google apparently aim to reverse M$ intermediation strategies by now offering their own.
I think Google and Sun (which is typical) have their head in the sand. Oh sure, the geeks get cranked by java, and some IT guy may even be thrilled with web-based applications but Calvin’s Contracting and Sue’s Soups care only about surfing the web, paying the bills, writing the letters. They don’t, in the main, follow this stuff whatsoever. In the desktop space, this is likely hopeless — until and unless some entirely new paradigm moves in and makes change (and it won’t be this one) irrestible.
Meanwhile, MS is set to introduce the new Office — it likely will be a compelling upgrade to the ‘normal user’ because it will be visually different and *look* — and presumably be — easier to use. In terms of sheer market success, watch Sun — almost a sure bet on the direction NOT to bet on.
So far the battle between Google and allies against Micro$oft seems to be all in favor of Google. Google seems to have the PEOPLE’s interest in mind when they introduce something new. M$ has their pocketbooks in mind when they try selling us the same tired shit over and over.
I recently started using Open Office after years of using Office 2000. A very slight learning curve and I have to say I like it. Now, what can the latest rendition of M$ Office do, that I need, that OO cannot?
Yup, M$ should be concerned about Open Source software. Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office, and Linux are all maturing and putting a big dent in M$’s pocket. Firefox may be finding more security holes then IE, but they are fixed in days, not months with another patch.
I don’t think Google, Sun joint announcement is a significant one. It is just another way to distribute the Google toolbar.
The big story here is the collaboration on OpenOffice. I can see an implementation similar to Gmail called Goffice, a web based office application with 2 Gig of shared storage space, easily searchable. Who better to implement it than Google in collaboration with Sun’s OpenOffice and Java applications? I think it’s a winner! Microsoft Windows, Office and ActiveX applications would be seriously challenged here, as Google’s web based implementation would be OS independent, giving Linux another boost. This could be the most serious threat to Microsoft yet.