Sun Microsystems Inc has escalated its suit against Microsoft Corp at the last minute. It is accusing Redmond of meddling with and changing the core Java language itself, and of intending to ship the bastardized version of Java with Windows 98, due to ship to personal computer manufacturers in two days time and be generally available June 25. The request for a further injunction – which has nothing whatsoever to do with any antitrust investigation at either the state or federal level as it is a breach of contract and copyright infringement suit – offers Microsoft one of three options to comply. It could offer Windows 98 fully compatible with the latest ‘official’ version of Java from Sun; it could ship Windows 98 as it is, but include on the CD Sun’s Java Runtime Environment (JRE); or lastly, it could remove any incompatibilities from Windows 98. So basically, Microsoft can either ship Sun’s Java or nothing at all, as far as Windows 98 is concerned. However, it is unlikely this will be resolved in time to prevent Windows 98’s shipment on June 25, let alone the end of this week. Various reports put Judge Ronald Whyte’s likely judgement in the northern division of the district court in San Jose to come between mid-June and the end of July. Todd Neilsen, Microsoft’s general manager of developer relations said, I don’t see it as something that would impede the shipment of Windows 98. Last year’s request for an injunction from Sun identified items of Java technology that Microsoft had specifically omitted from its version, rendering it incompatible and thus not worthy of the Java name or logo. These were the Java Native Method Interface (JNI) and Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) mechanisms from its JDK 1.1 implementation. However, this time it’s more serious. Sun is accusing Microsoft of adding new keywords into Java, as well as new compiler directives that require a Microsoft compiler and that once compiled the Java programs would only be able to run on Windows platforms, which includes Windows 98 but could also include other versions of Windows. Coming as it does, just days before the shipment of Windows 98 to OEMs, Sun’s assertion that it has only just completed testing the code Microsoft provided it as part of the injunction against it granted back in March may be a slight case of brinkmanship. Although Sun’s Java software division president (of what used to be known as JavaSoft) Alan Baratz insisted that Sun is not trying to delay the shipment of the OS. Under the preliminary injunction issued in March (CI No 3,375), which prevented Redmond from using the Java logo on Internet Explorer 4.0 and related products, Microsoft was also obliged to provide Sun with the relevant pieces of code of Windows 98 that related to Java. Baratz said the code drops from Microsoft have been slow in coming and the company has still not had it all, but has enough to believe it is being stiffed. Neilsen called Sun’s move a seven month-old lawsuit. He told us that as Microsoft has been supplying Sun with code drops since it signed its Java license on March 12 1996, and as Microsoft’s Java virtual machine technology has not changed much at all since last October’s lawsuit, Sun could have brought this additional injunction much sooner. He said that the JVM shipping within Windows 98, while not being much different from the one used last year was in fact slightly more compatible than before because of compliance with some class library and hierarchy tests called a signature test, which it now passes. He said Sun was just trying to grab some headlines. Sun is also asking the court to prevent Microsoft shipping its Software Development Kit for Java and Visual J++ development tools if they do not comply fully with Java and the code they generate is not fully compatible. In addition to all this, Sun is also complaining about unfair Win32 logo practices whereby Microsoft has instructed some of its customers that in order to comply with the Win32 logo requirements they must use Microsoft’s own version of the Java virtual machine – the one that is not fully compatible with Sun’s Java. Microsoft’s version includes native method interfaces within the Microsoft JVM that are only compatible with Windows. Sun says it has only become aware of this element in the last couple of months as the discovery period has worn on. The documents pertaining to the suit are under seal because they include trade secrets from both parties. Sun says it will ask Microsoft to agree to them being unsealed. If Microsoft says no or does not reply within ten days, Sun can ask the court to unseal them so they can be made publicly available. Microsoft’s Neilsen said that at the we spoke to him – the end of the day New York time – the company had not been served with the court papers.
