Squabble over Java name brewing from Sun, Microsoft

San Mateo (09/30/97) — The war between Sun Microsystems Inc. and Microsoft Corp. may escalate today as Microsoft launches its Internet Explorer (IE) 4.0 Web browser software.

Sun Microsystems currently is evaluating IE 4.0 and may ask Microsoft to remove the name Java from its software if it’s not happy with compliance, according to industry insiders.

“Basically, we have been running tests on IE 4.0, and we will make a statement when the product is launched tomorrow,” said a spokeswoman for Sun.

At issue is Microsoft’s support for its own Application Foundation Classes (AFCs) instead of Sun’s Java Foundation Classes (JFCs).

However, Microsoft officials believe that any allegations about incompatibility of IE 4.0 is nothing more than a part of Sun’s bid to discredit its software.

“According to Sun’s own compliance testing kit, IE 4.0 is the most Java-compatible browser on the market,” said Cornelius Willis, Microsoft’s director of platforms marketing. “This is so ludicrous. Netscape’s browser isn’t even compatible with the JDK 1.1, so is Sun going to pull the license from them?” he asked.

One user believes that Microsoft’s support for AFC is a veiled attempt to scuttle Java.

“Our view its that we do not really care about the exact functionality of a standard as long as it’s a standard,” said James Phillips, chief technologist with Visual Numerics, in Houston, TX. “We do not support people who wish to create a variant of Java, destroying the write once run anywhere principal,” Phillips said.