Oh, how times have changed in the technology industry. Sun Microsystems, which once seized every opportunity to poke fun at Microsoft's beleaguered products, this morning announced a distribution deal connecting its Java technology to the Redmond company's third-place Live Search engine -- replacing an earlier deal with market leader Google.

It's a long way from the days when Sun's Scott McNealy liked to call Windows a giant "hairball."

Of course, Sun and Microsoft have been cooperating on some levels since 2004, after they settled lawsuits over Java and other technologies. But today's deal adds a new twist. People in the U.S. who download Sun's Java Runtime Environment on Internet Explorer will have the option of installing Microsoft's MSN toolbar, giving them quick access to Live Search and other Windows Live services.

Google and Sun announced a similar deal back in 2005. In its story this morning, the Associated Press quotes Sun's vice president of Java marketing, Eric Klein, confirming that the Google toolbar distribution agreement is kaput. However, the company is continuing an agreement with Yahoo to distribute its toolbar via Java downloads on Firefox.

Financial terms of Microsoft's latest deal with Sun weren't disclosed.

Microsoft has been trying almost every trick in the book to gain ground on Google in the Internet search market, without much luck. In this morning's news release, Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi cited "the vast array of Java software-based Web applications that are downloaded every month" and said the deal "will expose Live Search to millions more Internet users and drive increased volume for our search advertisers.”

Then there's this from Rich Green, Sun's executive vice president of software, which no one in the tech industry circa 1998 would have believed: "Our customers expect top-quality products when they choose to download technology from Sun, and we are confident that they will find great value in both Microsoft’s MSN toolbar and Live Search."