Microsoft looks at Sun for search answers

FED UP OF still straggling in third place when it comes to Internet search, Microsoft has turned to Sun Microsystems for help promoting its Internet Explorer browser toolbar.

The deal between the two formerly rival firms involves Sun plugging the Volish IE toolbar to all US-based Web surfers who download Sun's popular Java software. Once downloaded, users will be able to post queries directly from the toolbar to Microsoft's Live Search.

The Redmond Giant has been hungry for a bigger slice of the Internet search traffic pie for a while now. After plans to buy up Internet search portal Yahoo failed miserably in May, the firm became determined to pump more cash and resources into its own search technology, and attracting more search users.

Microsoft comes in at a distant third place in the Web search market behind Google and Yahoo, which combined make up about 80 per cent of the whole market.

Dealing with Sun can’t have been an easy pill for Microsoft to swallow, especially since Sun took a hefty $2 billion from the Vole in 2004 in a settlement payout over patents and antitrust.

But both Sun and Microsoft seem to need each other enough to put previous grievances aside. Sun lately released disastrous financial results, posting a $1.7 billion loss in its most recent quarter.

Sun has also made similar deals with both Yahoo and Google, but, noted Sun's vice president of Java marketing, Eric Klein, the deal with the Google monster has almost run its course. The financial terms of the Microsoft deal were not disclosed.

Microsoft is not putting all its Web Search marketing eggs in one basket, though. The firm has also been busy forging a deal with HP to make the Vole’s search engine and toolbar the default on all computers shipped in the US and Canada, starting in January 2009. µ

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