Microsoft Takes More Steps To Promote Own Java Version

Microsoft Corp, escalating a dispute with its rivals, is taking more steps to encourage software developers to use its own version of the Java programming language.

Java, which has been touted as a way to develop programmes that work on all types of computers, was created by Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems Inc. By promoting its own version of Java, critics fear Microsoft may be further entrenching its Windows operating system as the dominant software platform that computers use to run programmes.

Microsoft released new tools on Wednesday, including a technology dubbed Windows Foundation Classes, that make it easier for software developers to write Windows applications in Microsofts version of the Java language. Such applications wont run on other computer platforms.

The move was endorsed by Microsofts one-time rival, Apple Computer Inc, expanding a relationship started last summer when Microsoft took a $150 million stake in Apple. The announcement was made at the start of the Internet world trade show in Los Angeles. The latest action by Microsoft widens the industry rift over a software language that was intended to enable developers to write software that runs on all computers.

Sun Microsystems has sued Microsoft, alleging that the Redmond, Washington-based company hijacked the language to create a version that works only on Windows computers and not rivals products. Sun maintains that Microsoft, in its zeal to protect its business, is abusing its dominance of operating system software for personal computers. 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.

Microsoft contends 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.

Instead, Microsoft says it is taking advantage of other benefits of Java. Charles Fitzgerald, Microsofts group product manager for platform marketing, said Java enables developers to write applications more quickly and with fewer bugs.

Fitzgerald said that developing an application written in Java for a wide array of computers comes with a significant set of tradeoffs.

But Sun Microsystems officials say Microsofts argument is a smokescreen. The choice theyre asking developers to make is one developers dont want to be confronted with and dont need to be, said Jon Kannegaard, vice president of software products for Sun Microsystems Javasoft division.

Reuters adds: The US Justice Department is unlikely to block Windows 98 from including Internet browsing software, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

While anti-trust enforcers continue to gather evidence for a new, wider case against Microsoft, their next legal step is likely to be narrow, according to the Journal.

Citing people close to the case, the Journal said the government may ask a US District Court judge to order the company to also offer a separate Windows 98 version without Internet software. The judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson, issued an order in December covering Windows 95, the current version of the program.

A Justice Department spokesman said no decision has been made on the governments next step, the newspaper said. This move wouldnt derail a separate, broader antitrust case against Microsoft, it added.

However, the probable requirement that Microsoft offer the separate version of Windows, with access to the browser hidden, would likely be fiercely resisted by the company, according to the Journal. The company says it hasnt violated antitrust law and that move would further limit its ability to innovate.