Sun and Microsoft sign search deal

Long-time rivals Microsoft and Sun Microsystems appear to have buried the hatchet today, announcing a partnership that will help increase use of both Sun's Java platform and Microsoft's web search on Windows PCs.

As part of the deal, users of Internet Explorer who download Sun's Java technology platform will be given the option to also download the MSN Toolbar, adding Microsoft's web search onto the browser menu bar.

Earlier this year, Microsoft reached a similar deal with HP, the world's largest personal computer maker, to place a toolbar on new PCs sold in the US and Canada starting in January.

"This deal will expose Live Search to millions more Internet users and drive increased volume for our search advertisers," said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president for Microsoft's online audience business.

Striking distribution deals are one part of Microsoft's strategy to close the gap on market leader Google. Microsoft said competition for these types of deals is intense and that the company had to outbid several rivals for the Sun deal.

Sun said the Java platform sits on more than 800 million personal computers around the world, or on 91 per cent of internet-connected PCs worldwide. The Java Runtime Environment is downloaded tens of millions times every month, Sun said.

Google's US web search market share reached 63 per cent in August compared to 19.6 per cent for Yahoo and 8.3 per cent for Microsoft, according to comScore.