Java Lobby says Microsoft official tried to “pull a fast one”

San Francisco — A Microsoft official tried to infiltrate a meeting of the Java Lobby at the JavaOne conference here this week, in which the organization was due to discuss the software giant’s attempts to fragment the Java language — or so claims the Java Lobby.

Brad Merrill, who is employed by Microsoft as Java evangelist, used his personal e-mail address to RSVP to the Java Lobby event. Merrill (who noted he has joined other Java user groups) said he joined the Java Lobby “as an individual and not as a representative of my employer,” and indicated that he sought to attend the Java Lobby meeting not purely as a Microsoft employee but as “a developer, a professional, an employee, and a human being, all rolled into one.”

“Do they ask everyone to declare whom their employer is?” Merrill asked. “Even if they don’t like my employer, you’d think they’d be open to a diversity of opinions.”

But Java Lobby representatives contend Merrill was disingenuous, and that he attempted to attend the event not as an interested individual but “as an official of Microsoft.” The organization rescinded his confirmation when someone pointed out that he “officially represents Microsoft on Java issues.”

“Forget about the fact that the thrust of our two discussion items for the meeting relate to tactics for offsetting Microsoft’s attempts to wrest control of Java,” countered Tony Pujals, chief technology officer at ObjectMedia and a Java Lobby member who helped plan the event. “Forget about the fact that Microsoft has refused to participate in dialogue with the Java Lobby or respond to the Java Lobby’s Open Letter to Microsoft. Forget about the fact that Brad is Microsoft?s Java evangelist and paid to promote his party line. And don’t even waste time thinking about how we probably wouldn’t be welcome at a Microsoft meeting. Brad actually might have been welcome to join the dinner and present his perspective, except it seems he deliberately tried to conceal his relationship to his employer, Microsoft.”

“Tony and others had developed and openly distributed an agenda for discussion — which includes ‘Java Lobby’s official posture, strategy, and tactics regarding Microsoft,'” noted Rick Ross, founder of the Java Lobby. “It is not appropriate for someone from Microsoft to participate in our discussion about strategy and tactics regarding Microsoft at this time and in this event. We don’t want to muddy the waters about what’s happening here.”

“We have a limited amount of time at the dinner meeting,” Pujals added. “The purpose isn’t to engage in a debate about which technological solutions are superior. The Java Lobby officially supports Sun’s concept of WORA [write one, run anywhere], and our goal for the meeting is to decide on the best course to achieve our goals. It is difficult to believe that Microsoft will offer useful advice on how to counter its tactics.”

Meanwhile, Merrill — who “resigned from” the Java Lobby as a result of this quarrel — is upset by allegations that he tried to mislead the Java Lobby.

“Since [the Java Lobby] is a volunteer organization, with no rules for exclusion, I felt that my exclusion from a Java Lobby activity such as the dinner was arbitrary and prejudicial,” Merrill said. “It was not advertised as a private executive committee meeting, but as an opportunity to meet other Java Lobby members. It does seem that there is a new rule, that is if you are a Microsoft employee, please do not apply. Maybe it should state something like that on the Java Lobby home page.

“I’m not really sure what the value of membership is, if you can’t participate in member events,” Merrill added.

A clash of this sort between the Java Lobby and Microsoft may have been inevitable. The Java Lobby is a 15,000-member group that aims to “represent the needs and concerns of the Java developer and user community to the companies and organizations who have influence in the evolution of Java.”

The group officially supports Sun’s concept of write once, run anywhere. Java Lobby founder Ross, a frequent critic of Microsoft’s Java-related activities, contends Microsoft’s latest version of Visual J++ is “specifically designed to kill WORA.”