Google-Sun Alliance: Big Bore or Big News? - It’s Not What They Said, It’s What They Plan
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So was this whole thing really just an early Christmas present from Google CEO Eric Schmidt to Sun CEO Scott McNealy, as one analyst implied? Well, that’s possible. After all, Schmidt worked under McNealy for 14 years before joining Google. In fact, come to think of it, the two companies have far more things connecting them than you would think.
Both companies got their start at Stanford, about a decade apart (does anyone remember that Sun originally stood for “Stanford University Network”?). Google now pays the salaries for plenty of engineers who once worked for Sun. Both companies have cultures driven by engineers, in fact. And Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim gave Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, $100,000 back in 1998 to incorporate their company.
Of course, both companies share a major rival: Microsoft. And this is where it gets interesting. Because the partnership already goes beyond the toolbar, and will go even further. Google is already a member of the Java Community Process steering committee, and will probably get more active. This strikes directly at Microsoft’s .Net platform. Sun and Google will also engage in joint research and development – you can expect to see a Google search bar added to OpenOffice.org, an office suite that Sun made open source in 2000. That strikes at Microsoft’s own Office suite. Google is also expected to help with development of OpenSolaris, Sun’s open source version of the Solaris operating system. Hmmm, operating systems…Microsoft wouldn’t have any major monopoly, errr, products in that area, would it?
If this doesn’t seem like a natural alliance to you yet, think again. Remember Sun’s slogan: “The network is the computer.” The company has been trying to promote this idea for as long as I can remember covering it. Google, with its huge network, has been offering a plethora of services through the browser that we used to think of as belonging on the computer; email is just one example. Indeed, Mark Mahaney, an analyst at Citigroup Research, reflected on both the naturalness and the excellent timing of the agreement: “For many years, Scott McNealy…talked about the network replacing the PC as the platform. In hindsight, his pitch was much too early…However, today’s announcement indicates that perhaps the Internet can become the platform for applications delivery.”
Next: And What About Microsoft? >>
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