JavaSoft Head Sees Detente With Microsoft.
New York, Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- JavaSoft President Alan Baratz said his unit of Sun Microsystems Inc. can work easily with rival Microsoft Corp., even though both companies aim to dominate the Internet.
With so many software companies licensing Java -- the computer language designed to run on any operating system or computer device -- it's unlikely that a rival language will emerge, he said.
Java is the two-year-old Internet programming language developed by Sun Microsystems that has become the world leader for new Internet applications with connections to 70 million computers, Baratz said. ``It's hard to imagine the risk of a Java killer,'' Baratz told the Bloomberg Forum. ``All the major computer companies and software companies are licensees of ours, including Microsoft.''
Since December 1995 -- about nine months after Sun started shipping Java and establishing it as the centerpiece of Internet applications -- Microsoft has tried to recast itself to exploit Internet applications. Its effort to make Windows NT a standard for networked computers hasn't achieved the same acceptance as either Java or the Unix systems that operate on all Sun computers, analysts said.
`Creating Value'
JavaSoft, based in Cupertino, California, is one of several independently managed business units of Sun, which is based in Mountain View, California. ``We are creating value for Sun Microsystems in a number of ways,'' including a harmonious licensing and royalty arrangement with Microsoft, Baratz said.
He declined to say how much of Sun's fiscal 1997 revenue of $8.59 billion was attributable to his unit.
Analysts estimate that for the fiscal year ended June 30, all Sun software revenue, including JavaSoft, rose 25 percent to about $600 million. Daniel Kunstler of J.P. Morgan Securities estimates that figure will rise 30 percent this year to as much as $780 million, or about 7.5 percent of the parent's overall revenue.
Baratz, 41, who holds Ph.D. degrees in both electrical engineering and computer science, said JavaSoft should be valued for the totality of its products.
That business is comprised of licensing Java to more than 150 companies, control of the software in Sun's below-$1,000 JavaStation computers and new Java semiconductors, which have been licensed to Siemens AG and others for ``smart'' cards for phones and consumer electronics.
Universal Platforms
JavaSoft, formally established in January 1996, about nine months after Sun started shipping Java, is just starting to deliver its potential, Baratz said.
New initiatives include an applications center with International Business Machines Corp. and Netscape Communications Corp. to ensure that all new software is Java-compatible, he said. The goal is to design Java into all future IBM and Netscape products, assuring a stream of licensing and royalty income.
Other licensees like Novell Inc. have selected Java as the basis for all future networking software, he said.
Microsoft, like any licensee, will also get future upgrades of Java, the president said. Because its software is based on a ``write-once, run anywhere'' foundation that means Java can operate on every type of computer, it's hard to imagine Microsoft trying to develop a rival. ``There's a very big difference'' between JavaSoft and Microsoft, said Baratz, who ran News Corp.'s Delphi Internet division before assuming his current position. ``Microsoft Windows is a very closed, proprietary design and development methodology whereas Sun is very open, a very independent, participative philosophy.''
JavaSoft still relies upon Sun's resources for development, sales and services, making a spinoff unlikely, Baratz said. ``I can't see any good reason for JavaSoft to operate independently,'' he said.
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