Microsoft Corp threw another chip into the Java stakes on Tuesday with the release of an interoperability toolkit that encourages developers to use the Windows 2000 platform for Java applications. Redmond is offering the Developer Tools Interoperability Kit via a free download from its web site and claims it provides development tools vendors with specification and test software to enable integration of applications written in Java on Windows 2000 with other languages, operating systems, virtual machines and third-party tools.
The kit includes J/Direct, Java/COM and Delegates, which improve Java functionality by adding feature such as Win 32 API calling capabilities, enabling the mapping of COM and Java objects and event-handling directly through the Java language. The tools have always been available to developers using a Microsoft environment, but the new kit allows the use of third-party compilers and virtual machines.
Sun Microsystems already provides its own open standard tools designed to add similar functionality to the Java language. The move by Microsoft is an obvious attempt to make its Java standard as portable as SunÆs.
