Sun Microsystems Inc. is escalating the battle with Microsoft Corp. over Sun's Java software technology, with the announcement today that it is suing Microsoft for failing to stick to the letter of its Java licensing agreement.
"It's not something we wanted to do," Sun CEO Scott McNealy said today at the Gartner Group's ITExpo 97 event.
But McNealy said Microsoft had swapped Windows class libraries into its Java development kit and then labeled them as Java components - and refused to fix that. He said Microsoft is deceptively labeling Internet Explorer 4.0 as Java compatible, even though it failed compatibility tests. "Internet Explorer 4.0 is not Java compliant," and people who expect to run all Java applets through it "are taking a very serious risk," he said.
"They do not want to be compatible with Java; they want it only be compatible with Windows," he said of Microsoft, adding Microsoft's position "is a little like Kleenex being disappointed there's been a common cure for the cold."
McNealy also criticized Microsoft for demanding that Sun give up its Java trademark. "I think that's a little bit like Mike Tyson giving culinary advice," he said.
Alan Baratz, president of Sun's JavaSoft division, said Sun will withhold new Java technology from Microsoft until the suit is settled. However, Sun has not yet pulled Microsoft's Java license and Baratz would not say under what conditions the company would revoke the license. Microsoft is the largest of Sun's 116 Java licensees.
A Microsoft spokesman dismissed the suit.
"We have not yet seen the complaint, but based on the accounts we have seen, Sun's claims are outrageous," he said. "Microsoft has delivered the most compatible implementation of Java on the marketplace and is well within the terms of our agreement. Reviews consistently state that Internet delivers the fastest, most functional and most compatible implementation of Java on the market.
"Sun has apparently decided that they can't compete in the marketplace. We think the evidence will show that while Microsoft has fully complied with its agreement with Sun, Sun has repeatedly failed to live up to its contractual obligations to Microsoft."
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, alleges that Microsoft breached its contractual obligation to deliver a compatible implementation of Java, and Sun is seeking an injunction to prevent Microsoft from improperly using the Java Compatible logo, according to a statement from Sun.
Sun is also "seeking to prevent Microsoft from misleading Java developers and to prevent them from delivering anything but fully compatible Java technology implementations," the statement said.
Java, both a programming language and a platform-independent operating environment, is seen by many computer industry observers as a threat to Microsoft Windows' stranglehold on the desktop operating system environment. While Microsoft has responded to the popularity of Java by licensing the software from Sun for inclusion into its Internet Explorer 4.0 browser, its implementation of Java has apparently displeased Sun by tying it too closely to the Windows operating system.
Sun has been running Microsoft's implementation through Java compatibility tests and has previously said that some changes to the API (application programming interface) could violate license agreements.
Today, Sun announced that Microsoft has failed those compatibility tests of its IE 4.0 browser and Software Development Kit for Java. As a result, according to Sun, applications written using Microsoft's development tools might not run on other operating systems such as MacOS or Unix, or on other browsers such as Netscape Navigator. In addition, applications written using Sun's Java Development Kit that run on MacOS, Unix and Netscape Navigator might not run on Internet Explorer 4.0, Sun said.
The complaint also charges Microsoft with trademark infringement, false advertising, breach of contract, unfair competition, interference with prospective economic advantage and inducing breach of contract.
The complaint accuses Microsoft of embarking on "a deliberate course of conduct in an attempt to fragment the standardized application programming environment established by the Java technology, to break the cross-platform compatibility of the Java programming environment, and to implement the Java technology in a manner
calculated to cause software developers to create programs that will operate only on platforms that use defendant Microsoft's Win32-based operating systems and no other systems platform or browser."
The battle between Sun and Microsoft is important because it is shaping the development of Java, according to one analyst.
"If Sun and Microsoft can agree, then Java will have a major future as a software platform," said Per Andersen, director of the Internet program at International Data Corp. in Copenhagen. "If they can't, and the battle continues, it's a threat to the future of Java."
Microsoft is in a "funny position," according to Andersen: It doesn't want Java to succeed as a platform for the desktop, yet it can't ignore it because if Java really takes off, it could be ignoring the next wave in the computer industry.
"They seem to have the usual Microsoft strategy of confusing the market," Andersen said. But, the company does risk falling too far away from Java as the software technology gains momentum. "They risk missing the train," he added.
Elizabeth Heichler is managing editor of the IDG News Service.
