Sun bids for Java-bundled Windows

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 4 Dec 2002 at 14:40

Sun asks judge to order XP to ship with Java to repair Microsoft damage

Yesterday saw the start of a week-long hearing, as Microsoft wheeled its antitrust lawyers back into the courts to defend itself from Sun.

Sun has asked for a preliminary injunction to replace Microsoft's Java interpreter with its own version in Windows XP and Internet Explorer.

US District Judge Frederick Motz said such a solution would be 'elegant and simple, although dramatic' but expressed concerns that giving Java a free ride piggybacking XP would give Sun possibly unfair benefits. Antitrust law exists to ultimately help consumers rather than the competition.

Sun Microsystems originally filed the lawsuit back in March. It seeks recompense (up to $1m) for the 'damage' done to the success of its Java programming language by Microsoft's 'illegal efforts to maintain and expand its monopoly power'.

After settling a $20m lawsuit with Sun last year, Microsoft accepted a new licensing agreement that limits the ways in which it can use Java. It got rid of the Java runtime environment from Windows with the launch of XP, but later added its own Java interpreter in an update. Now Sun says the Microsoft Java interpreter doesn't comply with Java standards, and wants its own interpreter included instead.