Sun Microsystems Inc claims its Internet and intranet strategy is strong enough that it won’t stoop to playing who-can-hype-more with Netscape Communications Corp and Microsoft Corp, which both outlined their plans with much fanfare last week. We wouldn’t make a statement in response to Microsoft’s and we don’t need to, Sun said last Friday. But when lightly prodded it modestly concedes that it’s leading the intranet parade because of its integrated hardware kit that Microsoft lacks as well as its SunService program. But Sun was warm to Microsoft’s Visual Java development platform, which goes into beta next month, saying it was a good sign that Microsoft was supporting Java in a way that isn’t just lip service. Microsoft says it has had over 3,000 requests for VJ++ betas since the JavaOne conference, which attracted about 5,000 developers. Meanwhile, JavaSoft says it is on target for the July betas for Java Beans, Hot Java and APIs it promised at JavaOne.
