Java is held back by European telecoms prices

Europe?s telecommunication regulators and high prices are holding Sun Microsystems back, according to its president and CEO Scott McNealy, who has vowed to use Java to overthrow Microsoft?s stranglehold on the industry.

Speaking exclusively to VNU Newswire at the Java World Tour 97 launch seminar in San Francisco, McNealy said Java and related technologies develop more slowly in Europe than in the US. ?It won?t take off as fast until European telecoms regulation and prices fall.?

He accepted the accord made last week by the International Telecommunications Union would speed up development outside North America. ?But it?s late,? McNealy warned. ?The Net has accelerated everything and it?s all measured in ?internet years?, which are shorter than dog years.? McNealy, with the help of Java World Tour 97 co-sponsors IBM, Netscape and Novell, had earlier launched a scathing attack on Microsoft and its competitor to Java, Active X.

?Microsoft is a wonderful publisher but a lousy author,? McNealy said.

Microsoft?s attempt to keep a foot in both the Java/Active X platform and the Windows platform is ?not reprehensible because they want to keep the monopoly?, said Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale.

But IBM software senior VP John Thompson said: ?Some factions in Microsoft believe in open standards. We would welcome Microsoft to the 100 per cent pure Java scheme.?

McNealy said Java?s slogan should not be ?Where do you want to go today? but would suit ?What do you want to get done today??