Giants joust as Sun jumps on Java plan
REUTERS
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Microsoft Corp has unveiled a plan aimed at getting millions of Java developers to support its own technology, but the move immediately drew criticism from its arch-rival and the inventor of the Java computer language, Sun Microsystems.
The move comes just two days after the software giant settled a lawsuit with Sun over alleged misuse of Sun's Java.
Microsoft's plan will enable developers to convert programs written in Java into a form that can work with Microsoft's new .NET strategy, which uses its Windows operating system as a foundation to tie devices and services together.
The plan threatens to spark another legal battle between Microsoft, the world's top software company, and Sun, a maker of powerful network computers and software. Sun has helped the United States Government in its antitrust case against Microsoft and pushed for the company's breakup.
The two companies had worked together on Java, a language for "write once, run anywhere" programs that run on Sun, Microsoft and other firms' operating systems, but which Sun, in the 1997 suit, said Microsoft had modified with features locking developers into its Windows system.
"Microsoft is doing what Sun is desperately trying to prevent them from doing," said William Zachmann, an analyst with the Meta Group, a technology consultancy.
"If you've got Java code and you want to .NET-ify it, you've got a way to do it," Mr Zachmann said.
"It looks to me like Microsoft's lawyers have done another brilliant job of doing a fake left, run right. It looks like Microsoft has totally blindsided Sun," Mr Zachmann said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see Sun litigate this one, but I'm not sure that it will get anywhere."
'Misses the point'
Sun went on the attack soon after the announcement, saying the system to rewrite Internet applications in Java to a Microsoft-friendly version would crimp the cross-platform functionality at the heart of the programming language.
"Microsoft is trying to articulate an alternative to Java," Sun's David Harrah, spokesman for the Java group, said.
"I think they are making a very defensive move to stop people from moving to the Java platform."
The new Microsoft plan, called Java User Migration Path, or JUMP, allows Java to be translated for use on the .NET but does not set rules for how to write Java.
"This is focused on the language," Sun's Mr Harrah said.
"The lawsuit was focused on the platform and brought against Microsoft because they tried to build a Windows-only implementation of the platform, not the language."
The platform consists of tools that allow Java to run on different operating systems and devices, such as cell phones. That support and added functionality would be lost in translation, he said.
"They keep making this big point about multiple languages [working on their platform]. It is not about multiple languages. It is about the ability to support multiple platforms and multiples devices," he said. "Microsoft doesn't want to talk about that."
'JUMP' to .NET'
On Tuesday, Microsoft settled the three-year-old Java lawsuit brought by Sun, agreeing to pay its rival US$20 million to be able to continue using Java in current products.
But Microsoft declined to licence newer versions of Java, leaving analysts wondering how Microsoft would support the popular language in its big .NET push.
The answer, according to Charles Fitzgerald, director of business development in Microsoft's platform strategy group, is that the company has come up with a way to translate the Java source code into code that works with .NET.
"This is ... a set of tools and services offering to give developers a variety of ways to preserve, enhance and migrate today's Java skills to the .NET platform," Mr Fitzgerald said.
"We want make sure we provide those developers with a roadmap so they can take advantage of the Microsoft platform today and in the future," Mr Fitzgerald said.
The centerpiece is a tool that converts Java into a new Microsoft language called C# (pronounced C-sharp) that it unveiled last year as a rival to Java.
"In the Web services world you've got to support a wide variety of languages. This is not an embrace of the Java platform. We don't believe in the vision for Java," Mr Fitzgerald said.
"The companies' strategies are so divergent, it's not worth getting intertwined. It's now up to them to deliver on their promises and stop blaming us for their failures."
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