Web Marketing Strategy Update

Danny over at SearchEngineWatch claims Google’s purchase of Writely.com (a browser-based word processor) drove him over the edge last week. The growing number of things Google “haven’t finished, gotten right or need to fix” led him to compose a list of 25 Things I Hate About Google.

“Honestly, if Google wants to be as “ubiquitous as brushing your teeth,” then they need to make sure the Google toothpaste tastes good or that you can squeeze it out of the Google toothpaste tube (beta) without it getting all clogged up.”

Good reading to quickly catch up on where Google is at, as much as anything else.

Also see this related post about Google’s accidentally released Analyst Day notes left in PowerPoint slides released to the public earlier this month, and this post showing the notes themselves, which make interesting reading, or you can download the original slides here.

Was it really an accident? …

Fresh on the heels of news that Google has submittied a plan to provide free Wi-Fi to all of San Francisco (apparently viewed as a test-ground by Google), is the announcement that Google will promote Sun Microsystems’ OpenOffice and its Java software platform.

Google will start distributing Java with its search toolbar, enabling the use of OpenOffice, a free open-source multi-platform office tools suite that competes with Microsoft Office.

In return, Sun will include the Google toolbar as a download option with its Java software, with Google paying Sun for each download containing the toolbar.

Google will also help promote and improve both OpenOffice and Solaris, Sun’s open-source operating system — which according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Google engineers already contribute to.

That’s less surprising once you know the Google CEO previously worked at Sun helping to develop Java and Solaris, and Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim was an early investor in Google.

Obviously, it’s too early to draw conclusions, but with Google’s brand and massive user base — which Sun will probably add to — in time the partnership (which is set to run for several years) could have a significant impact on Microsoft.

As Eric Schmidt said, “This is a very significant deal.”

Of course, there are several web-based competitors to Microsoft Office now as well, but that’s for another post.