Sun Rallies More Java Support From OEM Partners

Acer, Gateway, Samsung, Toshiba and Chinese PC manufacturer Tsinghua Tonfang have signed technology licensing agreements with Sun, Santa Clara, Calif., to carry the Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) runtime on their PC and laptop computers, said Rich Green, Sun's vice president and general manager for the Java and XML platform.

All of the vendors will have the latest J2SE support shipping natively on their PCs and laptops by next year, according to Sun. Samsung will begin shipping Java-supported PC and notebook computers by as early as December.

The move is further proof that Microsoft's decision to keep native Java support out of its Windows XP operating system will not affect the Java user's experience when running Java applications on XP, Green said.

Green said although a U.S. appellate judge reversed a Jan. 21 ruling that would have forced Microsoft to include Java in XP, the deals with OEMs to carry Java on their PCs and laptop computers essentially produces the same result.

"Consumers will see Java as it is [in applications]," Green said. "Because we're most interested in the distribution of Java, to Sun and consumers it's a benefit. I do not think Microsoft would see this as a win."

Microsoft discontinued native Java support in XP in February. The company does provide customers with a plug-in of an earlier version of Java that can be installed to support Java in applications such as Internet Explorer. The version, however, is out of date with the current version of J2SE because of a settlement in a previous licensing dispute with Sun that prevents Microsoft from distributing the latest versions of the Java platform.

In March 2002, Sun filed a private antitrust suit against Microsoft. As part of that suit, Sun sought a preliminary injunction requiring Microsoft to include a current Java virtual machine (JVM) in the Windows XP operating system. In January 2003, a judge granted the injunction, but it was overturned in an appeals court in June.

Previously, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple struck deals with Sun to ship J2SE on their PCs and laptops, while Lindows.com and Red Hat have licensed Java for their Linux distributions.