November 11, 2008

Reporting from San Francisco -- Microsoft Corp., a distant third in the search market, has signed a distribution deal with a former foe in a bid to increase its share of search traffic.

U.S. Web surfers who are downloading Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java software will be asked whether they would also like to download a toolbar featuring a Microsoft Live Search box, under the deal announced Monday.

The Java software, which is needed to view some websites, is on 800 million desktops worldwide -- more than 9 out of 10 personal computers connected to the Internet -- and gets tens of millions of downloads each month, according to Sun. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the pact. Sun has had similar deals with Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. in the past.

Striking distribution deals is a key part of Microsoft's plan to catch up to Google.

"This is the beginning of the execution of a new strategy for us," said Brad Goldberg, general manager of Microsoft Live Search. "Building out distribution is one of the key things we are focused on."

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., has been looking for ways to gin up more traffic since abandoning its effort to buy Yahoo in May. Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer last week dismissed speculation that he was still interested in buying Yahoo.