"Working with Google will make our technologies available more broadly, increase options for users, lower barriers and expand participation worldwide," said Scott McNealy this morning in Mountain View, CA, as Sun and Google announced an agreement to promote and distribute their respective software technologies to millions of users around the world. The announcement was made by Scott McNealy and Jonathan Schwartz for Sun, and Eric Schmidt for Google.

"Free and open source technologies, such as OpenOffice.org, OpenSolaris and Java, have never been safer or offered more choices," McNealy observed.

The agreement aims to make it easier for users to freely obtain Sun's Java Runtime Environment (JRE), the Google Toolbar and the OpenOffice.org office productivity suite, helping millions of users worldwide - as McNealy described it - "to participate in the next wave of Internet growth."

Under the agreement, Sun will include the Google Toolbar as an option in its consumer downloads of the Java Runtime Environment on http://java.com/. In addition, the companies have agreed to explore opportunities to promote and enhance Sun technologies, like the JRE and the OpenOffice.org productivity suite available at http://www.openoffice.org/.

"As a leader in free and open source software, Sun has long recognized that network innovation is vital to the evolution of the global economy," said Scott McNealy, chief executive officer, Sun Microsystems.

"Google and Java are two of the most widely recognized technology brands because they provide users with online tools that enhance their lives on a day to day basis. The Google Toolbar offers useful Internet search services while Java enables richer interactive content. We look forward to exploring other related areas of collaboration," said Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google.