so today [technically yesterday] the net was all abuzz with the rumors of an apparent partnership between the much lauded (and lately ever-controversial) google and sun. speculations ran rampant in forums like slashdot where people theorized that google is about to unleash *THE DEFINITE END* to microsoft office by using its ajax experience to help sun web-ize its own [star/open]office. after watching some of the live webcast, it was apparent the details being made publically available were thin. essentially sun announced they will release google’s toolbar with their own java software. wooooooo! that’s a pretty revolutionary announcement..

maybe it was all nothing more than a publicity stunt. but i know one thing: i’d love to see some web-ified office goodness from google. if we’ve learned anything from maps and gmail, it’s that google definitely knows how to create nice interactive web apps. i suppose the tricky thing to nail (and of course the main hurdle to widespread adoption) will be ensuring as-near-as-possible 100% compatibility with existing microsoft office doc formats.