Computers Today, December 1-15, 1998, Master File, pg3

How Microsoft planned to brew its own flavour of Java, but was snubbed bad by the judiciary

In his ruling, US District Court Judge Ronald Whyte last fortnight granted Sun Microsystems Inc.'s request for a preliminary injunction that will force Microsoft Corp. to conform to Sun's version of Java. The ruling states that Microsoft has 90 days to change any product that ships Java technologies so that they will conform and pass Sun's Java compatibility test suite. Currently, Microsoft ships its own version of Java inside Internet Explorer 4.0 and within its Visual J++ 6.0 development tool. Internet Explorer also is integrated into Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0.

In 1996, Sun licensed Java to Microsoft, after four months of negotiations. Since that day however, the two sides have rarely been on the same page when it comes to Java.

Microsoft has tried to put its own touches on the technology during the past two years, discounting Java's platform status and calling Java just a language. The Redmond-firm created an ActiveX container for its Java Virtual Machine implementation that automatically converts Java API calls into COM messages. The company introduced Application Foundation Classes (AFCs)--a set of Microsoft classes that were added to JDK 1.02 and designed to tightly intertwine Java application to the underlying Windows APIs.

In 1996, Microsoft began allowing ISVs to download and incorporate the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine into their applications free of charge. Sun officials argued that Microsoft could only redistribute the Java VM as part of a bigger package of applications. Microsoft contended that its JVM was part of the Java SDK.

In early 1997, with the release of JDK 1.1, the real battle began. Claiming that Sun was including features in APIs that duplicated those already provided within Windows, Microsoft balked at supporting the Java Native Interface (JNI) and Sun's Remote Method Interface (RMI). Microsoft ulimately moved to support RMI, but not JNI, saying that it duplicates technology provided by Windows with an API it calls J/Direct.

Sun filed a breach of contract case against Microsoft more than a year ago. In an early first round, Sun won a ruling which asked Microsoft to remove all usage of the Java compatibility logo from its Web sites and product until it was in compliance. Sun expanded its suit in May seeking the preliminary injunction that would force Microsoft to include compatible JDK 1.1 technology in Win 98 and its Java development tool Visual J++ 6.0.

Just what Microsoft will do now is anyone's guess. Group vice president and general manager of the applications and tools group, Paul Maritz, does not dismiss two far-reaching possibilities: cancel all support for Java in its products, or replace the Java virtual machine it licensed from Sun with a clean room version created by Microsoft.

Microsoft has already taken steps that indicate it may not support Java. In the beta version of Internet Explorer 5.0, released earlier last month, Microsoft made the Java virtual machine an optional download for users. Maritz adds that Microsoft has no contractual obligations to support Java, saying that these were fulfilled when it shipped Explorer 3.02.

However, Sun's vice president Michael Morris says that Microsoft's contractual commitment to Java runs for five years. Morris and Alan Baratz, Java software division president, seem to indicate that Sun would take issue with Microsoft if it tried to use a clean room version instead of the version its has licensed from Sun.

If Microsoft opts to support Java it will need to support a key API that has been at the centre of this dispute--Java Native Interface. JNI is a bridge that connects Java code that is written natively to a specific operating system with portable Java code that can run on any platform. The bridge is designed to enable any application to tap the native code without locking the entire application into a specific environment. Microsoft has refused to support JNI to date, saying that it duplicates Microsoft's J/Direct, which is already in the operating system. The court order that Microsoft will not have to remove J/Direct only adds support for JNI.

After the injunction, Baratz extended an olive branch towards Microsoft, hoping that the ruling and events will lead it back into the fold of the Java community. He said he would be willing to help Microsoft conform to the ruling. "I hope that they will take us up on the offer," said Baratz.

In accepting Baratz's offer, Microsoft must do more than just change its Java VM. As part of the ruling, Microsoft will now have to make the creation of cross-platform Java the default setting. The company also must put a warning label within the code of the tool that is activated if a developer elects to change the setting to use the Microsoft-specific extensions. The warning label is designed to tell developers that if they use the extensions, a future ruling in the case could force them to change their code.

Microsoft is also exploring all of its options on the legal side as well. The company has made it clear that it views the preliminary injunction as only that--preliminary--and vows to fight the case as it heads towards the formal trial. No date is set for the next battle.

Don't Like Coffee? Have Chai

Last fortnight, Hewlett-Packard Co., Microsoft Corp., and 12 other companies banded together in a new effort to create versions of Java programming language, for use in electronic machines other than computers. HP spokesmen said that the panel will develop new "flavours" of Java for devices like scientific equipment and computer peripherals. The panel is likely to cause a stir at Sun. The firm bristled earlier this year when competitor HP announced that it was building "Chai," a version of the "write once, run anywhere" Java programming language for machines other than computers, which the language was originally created for. HP has contended since March, when it unveiled its plans around Chai, that Sun has been allowed to "control" Java for too long.

The newly created panel will be called the Real-Time Java Working Group, and joining HP and Microsoft in the group are Siemens AG and Rockwell Collins, a unit of Rockwell International Corp. The core focus of these firms would be designing embedded Java software applications or the actual electronics devices which will use Java-based technology to deliver real-time performance out in the field. Among the many products which will utilise these Java software applications are cellular telephones, pagers, scientific laboratory equipment, computer peripherals and factory automation devices.

Developers Cheer, Developers Cry

The reactions to the Sun-Microsoft ruling have been cautiously muted. Computer automation software company SISRO's president Bruno Gareton told PC Week Online that the impact on small software vendors could be devastating, if they were forced to alter their products to work on a modified Win 98. "If it means months of development wasted and months without shipping a product, it could break a company without a tonne of product (in the market)," says Gareton. Now that the keyword extensions and compiler directives in VJ++ 6.0 will not be permitted to be included in future tools, it would render any applications already developed with VJ++ 6.0 incompatible.

Some developers were clearly jubilant. "This may help us adopt an industry standard. Currently, we must support all platforms," says Brad Kerr, product manager of JetForm Corp. of Ottawa, Canada, which sells electronic form, workflow and output technology. "It's a great decision," says software developer Raul Acevedo of Cantara Consulting in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Java is an emerging standard. You want to keep it pure so people can actually use it. If it starts to splinter and fracture, it goes to hell." Microsoft defended its extensions as a valuable addition to Java. "We believe it is still important that Microsoft should offer choice to developers," says Paul Maritz, the company's group vice president.