Sun Files Suit Against Microsoft

Earlier this month, Sun, based here, made good on threats and filed a private antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, seeking damages that could exceed $1 billion for "the harm inflicted by Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior with respect to the Java platform and for damages resulting from Microsoft's illegal efforts to expand and maintain its monopoly power."

Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler called Sun's move a "predictable tactic," adding that there is "no legal or factual basis" for the suit. "The only real losers to this sort of litigation are consumers and software developers," Desler said.

The vendor also is seeking a preliminary injunction that requires Microsoft to include a current Java virtual machine (JVM) in the Windows XP operating system, said Michael Morris, Sun senior vice president and general counsel.

Microsoft said it was pulling Java support from Windows XP in July and instead would offer users a plug-in from Microsoft's site to enable Web pages using Java to work on the system.

At the time, Microsoft defended the move by citing a January 2001 settlement to another lawsuit Sun filed against Microsoft in 1997 over Microsoft's implementation of Java. That settlement agreement restricted what Microsoft could do in its implementation. Morris said the Java settlement in no way prohibited Microsoft from including an updated JVM in Windows XP. "It was purely a unilateral decision by Microsoft," Morris said.

One systems integrator said Sun's lawsuit is "contrived," and the fact that there is no native Java support in XP hasn't been an issue with his customers.

The source, who requested anonymity, added that Microsoft's dominance in the operating system market also is not a problem for his clients because it gives them something to "take for granted."

"Compare that to what it was 10 years ago when, as a systems integrator, there were any number of things you might have to integrate an end user to," he said.