Microsoft Wants Java for Windows
By DAVID E. KALISH
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP)- Microsoft Corp. is stepping up its drive to encourage software designers to use its own version of the Java programming language, in what some see as a possible blow to efforts to establish an alternative to the Windows operating system.
Microsoft plans to unveil new tools on Thursday that make it easier for software developers to write Windows applications in Microsoft's version of the Java language.
The announcement was expected to be endorsed by Apple Computer Inc., expanding a relationship started last summer when Microsoft took a $150 million stake in its one-time rival.
Sources close to the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the announcement would be made at the Internet World trade show in Los Angeles.
Microsoft's latest steps widen the industry rift over a software language that was intended to enable developers to write software that runs on all computers, from PCs to workstations, freeing people from excessive reliance on any one type of operating system, such as Windows.
Sun Microsystems Inc., which developed the Java language, has sued Microsoft, alleging Microsoft hijacked the language to create a version that works only on Windows computers and not rivals' products.
Sun maintains Microsoft, in its zeal to protect its business, is abusing its dominance of operating system software for personal computers in order to fracture the drive to create a universal software language.
Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., is one of more than 100 software companies licensing the Java language from Sun. It plans to offer its developers updated technology for using the Java language, strengthening an ongoing effort to encourage them to write Windows applications in Java.
''To the extent (Microsoft encourages) people to start using Java for Windows, it dilutes the cross-platform message,'' said David Smith, an industry analyst with the Gartner Group research and consulting firm, based in Stamford, Conn.
Details of Apple's role weren't disclosed. But some industry analysts expected the companies to unveil plans for the Java software written by Windows developers to also run on Apple's Macintosh computers. An Apple spokeswoman did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Microsoft has said in the past that Java applications work best when created for a specific operating system, such as Windows, and has denied that it is abusing its Windows monopoly to gain advantage in other software areas. A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment on its current plans ahead of the announcement.
''The choice they're asking developers to make is one developers don't want to be confronted with and don't need to be,'' said Jon Kannegaard, vice president of software products for Sun Microsystems' JavaSoft division.
''We don't believe that you need to target Windows in order to have an interesting application,'' he said.
In another potential widening of the rift between Microsoft and its rivals, IBM Corp. and Sun are negotiating for IBM to use a version of Java for a universal operating system that will run the basic functions of computers hooked up to a central mainframe in a network.
Sources close to the talks said the companies envision a joint venture in which IBM shares software code created by its developers.
An IBM spokesman declined to comment. IBM also licenses the Java language from Sun.
AP-NY-03-10-98 1914EST
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