Hot Scott fires fear accusation at Gates

Panic at Java's success was the motivation behind Microsoft's licence clash with Sun, claims developer's chief executive.

Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy has claimed that Microsoft forcede clash with Sun, claims developer's chief executive. it into court action because it was scared by Java's success and the threat its cross-compatibility poses to Windows.

In a keynote speech to European IT directors at the Gartner Group's annual symposium in Cannes, McNealy said Microsoft laid the path to a court case over its Java licence. He said it deliberately added Windows-only APIs to the Java software included in the latest release of its Internet Explorer browser.

'Java was wildly successful and then Microsoft signed up to it. In fact, Java was so successful, Microsoft had to sign up to it. And Java continued to be so successful after signing up to it that Microsoft had to force us to take it to court and hope it got Judge Ito and Marsha Clarke and got off like OJ Simpson,' said McNealy.

To loud applause, McNealy slammed Microsoft's claim that users were not interested in the potential for Java to run on all platforms, irrespective of operating system or processor.

He added: 'I have not met anyone who said they do not want 100 per cent cross-platform compatibility. Microsoft says its customers are saying they don't.'

McNealy dismissed the idea that the dispute was purely over licensing fees.

'More money falls out of Gates' pocket into the crack in his car seat than we charge Microsoft for the Java licence,' he said.

If users want 100 per cent Java compatibility, McNealy added, they should use the Navigator browser rather than buy Microsoft's development tools and swamp Gates' mailbox with emails telling him to get compatible.

According to McNealy, Java's recent setback in gaining ISO standards approval was due to the negative vote of the US committee. The votes of Microsoft and Intel, neither of which has previously involved itself in the committee, managed to secure the one-third of votes which were required to stop approval for the meantime.

Senate delivers Hatch point

Microsoft's business ethics came under fire last week, on the opening day of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on competition on the internet.

Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican chairman of the committee, set the tone when he fired a warning shot at Microsoft in his opening remarks. 'I have not made any secret of the fact that I have serious concerns about Microsoft's recent efforts to exercise its monopoly power, and that I plan to continue to examine the company's practices,' he said.

Hatch lambasted Microsoft's insistence that licensees sign non-disclosure agreements. 'The difficulty the government has had in getting witnesses to go on the record speaks volumes about the nature of competition in the software industry,' he said.

But he was quick to avoid criticism of Microsoft bashing when he pointed out that the committee intends to explore the fast-growing hi-tech business and will attempt to assess the way anti-trust and intellectual property laws should be applied.

'The government certainly should not use anti-trust laws to make winners and losers in the marketplace,' he said. 'But it should use anti-trust laws to ensure that it is the consumers who get to pick the winners and losers.'