Microsoft representatives announced today that, along with a Java update, users will also receive a Windows Live toolbar. This is part of a continuing effort to raise awareness about its competitor to Google’s market dominating search site. The toolbar will offer access to Live Search, to MSN content like news and to Live services, such as Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger. The alliance is certainly a surprising one, and that’s because Sun’s Java platform has traditionally competed with Microsoft technologies such as ActiveX and, more recently, Silverlight. A possible explanation reflects a fiscal weakness on Sun’s part, and that’s because the company posted a $1.7 billion loss in its most recent quarter.

In order to explain the association with Microsoft’s products, Rich Green, Sun’s executive vice president, told the media: “Our goal is to provide Java users with compelling and immersive business and consumer solutions powered by Java technology and value-added solutions from world-class software partners.” According to Web analytics, Microsoft holds less than a five percent market share of global search engine traffic, while its opponent, Google, holds nearly 81 percent. Therefore, it’s an excellent option for Microsoft to promote Live Search to millions more Internet users through Java’s update.

Microsoft is focused, for the time being, on other strategies, such as distribution pacts, to battle Google. Its biggest success so far is a deal with HP to make its search engine the default one on all the personal computers shipped in the U.S. and Canada starting in January 2009. The Java software, which is needed to view some websites, is on 800 million desktops worldwide, that means it can be found on 9 out of 10 PCs connected to the Internet. Sun and Microsoft did not disclose the financial details of the pact, but Sun has had similar deals with Google and Yahoo in the past.