Continuing a Trend in Technology, Google partnered with Sun Microsystems. But what does that really mean to you and me?

It means that the long awaited network application that runs smoothly across all platforms may actually happen on a larger scale than was thought possible. You see, Microsoft still has a pretty rigid desktop application model. It's been trying to move into the net dominance since the late nineties and early 2000's by tying the net to it's desktop. Yes, Microsoft's idea of an application that runs across all platforms is to make all platforms run Windows.

Google already has Gmail, spreadsheet technologies and calendar functions in the work. And partnering successfully is nothing new to Google.

They've already successfully partnered with the New York Public Library, Harvard University, the University of Michigan, Oxford University and Stanford to bring us Google Print.

Google print is a database of scanned pages of printed books that can be accessed online. The goal is to put millions of volumes online.

And how about AOL? Well, Google actually squeezed Microsoft out of the table and purchased a 5% stake in AOL, Google announced December 20,  2005.

What it means to you and me is that Google has become more than a mathematical algorthm invented by a couple of former Stanford Students to search the internet. It's become one of the players that will shape how you, me and the world interact with one another in this brave, new digital world.