Thursdays Running Commentary..

Daniel Pass 15 Apr, 2004 at 2:35am ET Article published in Tech

Comments

1. 
   15 Apr 2004 ~ 7:29pm Straight_Man

   Shorty wrote:

   
   Almost too bizarre for words could be this CNET video of Steve Ballmer (Microsoft) and Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy exchanging pleasentries at a press conference last week. Considering the very "competitive" (ie, strained) relationship between the big two, it was a perfect show of marketing perfection. Painfully generated false smiles at dawn.
   
   
   Source: [url=][/url]

   
   Well, let me put it this way. Microsoft, two plus years ago, said they were going to SUSPEND Java support for a year and then reinstate it. THEN, Sun came out with Open Office, and proved Java 2 apps could run with a non-Java VM and run well. OOo 1.1.1 can import Office XP docs, gen them, and gen Acrobat Reader compatible exports. Price, um, FREE....
   
   Mozilla and Opera have done same thing, and Thunderbird has that ability also. Oh, of apps qualiifed by Sun to conform to Java 2, no Java app will be acting like a virus. 95% of the so-called Java viruses are in reality Java SCRIPT of the J++ kind attackers and exploiters. Most of the rest are Javas 1 viruses, and others will not run in Java 2 from Sun.
   
   The VERY best VM for 98 SE and 98, whihc Microsoft had to extend support on, was not a J++ app, it was a Java 1 app. Unless Microsoft paid the piper, they had to pull it.
   
   Plus, when you are major publisher and have to pay 1.95 Billion in initial settlement including legal costs for other side, then agree to pay another half billion over ten years, you had BETTER make VERY nice or face a major royalty increase over the NEXT ten. This squabble started before Sun's OS initiative, so it makes sense that they have a presence on BOTH sides of the pfence, own fields on both parts of pastureland to graze on legally.
   
   Sellout, nah, followup on very, VERY, long-standing grievances--the result of which might bite MS in the tail a bit at least in this wise: the agreement said nothing about exclusive rights to Java, nor was there anything in it that said the funds could not be used to fund Mad Hatter's successor, Linux on Solaris and Linux+Java desktops, etc.
   
   Sun wants BOTH pastures, not just Microsoft's small tenant pasture. Note, Sun is talking about releasing some Java stuff to OpenSource, and they might fund what it takes to do that with MS penalty payments for MS's past sins. We will have to watch and see, but knowing McNeally's stance and record for a long time, that was a Shark's grin on his face, not cheesepaint. 2.35-2.45 Billion USD will go a long way to fund the SunOne initiative.
   
   John D.
2. 
   16 Apr 2004 ~ 2:25am Shorty

   Ageek wrote:

   We will have to watch and see, but knowing McNeally's stance and record for a long time, that was a Shark's grin on his face, not cheesepaint. 2.35-2.45 Billion USD will go a long way to fund the SunOne initiative.

   
   You ain't wrong there. He looked smug