October 7, 1997 may become a pivotal day for the development
of the web. Originally created as a way for scientists
around the world
to share information, the web
was about cooperation and cross-platform functionality.
Now the United States District Court, Northern District of
California, San Jose Division, will decide if this continues
or if competitive divergence occurs.
Following the official release of Internet Explorer 4.0 for
Windows the end of September, Microsoft officially released
Microsoft's SDK for Java,
Version 2.0. This utilizes a Microsoft virtual machine
and Windows-specific code to create a faster Java. The
only drawback is that it only works in the Windows environment
with the Internet Explorer 4.0 browser.
Sun Microsystems, the creators of Java and the owners of the
Java trademark, took
legal
action against Microsoft charging "trademark infringement, false
advertising, breach of contract, unfair competition, interference
with prospective economic advantage and inducing breach of contract".
Their announcement details their reasons for the suit and explains
part of their compatibility test which all products must pass to use
the Java Compatible logo. Microsoft failed this test.
Microsoft's response to the suit states that they "have
delivered the most compatible implementation of Java on the
marketplace". They go on to state "Sun has apparently decided that they
can't compete in the marketplace".
