Note: this is an acutal reply of an employee at Sun responding
to several corporations asking Sun to cede control of Java to
an international standard-setting organization.

I found it interesting. See if you agree with the response.


Intel, Microsoft, and Others vs Sun on Java
===========================================

> Thursday September 11 12:23 PM EDT 
> 
> Intel, others ask Sun to cede control of Java 
> 
> PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept 11 (Reuter) - Intel Corp (INTC), Microsoft Corp
> (MSFT), Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) and Compaq Computer Corp (CPQ) asked 
> Sun Microsystems Inc (SUNW) Thursday to cede control of the Java computer 
> programming language to an international standard-setting organization.
     
Sun's appropriate response should be that we would turn over Java 
to ISO *after* Intel and Microsoft turn over the x86 architecture 
and the Windows API's, respectively, to ISO!  The sheer hypocrisy 
of these organizations is staggering..
     
> In an open letter to Sun executives, the four companies said they were 
> concerned that Sun had too much control over a language that is quickly 
> becoming one of the foundations of the Internet.
>
> ``We think Java is important for industry and our customers,'' said Tom
> Waldrop, a spokesman at Intel. ``To us it's important for the development of
> the Internet, that Java remain an open standard.'' 
> 
> The companies said Sun, the inventor of Java, should turn over ownership of
> the language to the International Standards Organization, an international 
> forum that regulates technical standards and measures.
> 
> The companies also said the Java name should be free to all interested 
> parties.
     
Let's agree to this immediately under the following conditions:
     
        1) 'Windows NT' name free to all interested parties
        2) 'Pentium', 'MMX' etc. names free to all interested parties
     
Then anyone can call anything 'Windows NT' just like Microsoft wants
to call anything Java.  Okay, so it might not be the *same* Windows NT
that M$ sells, but hey, we think *our* version is better, and has more
'features.'  We could rename Solaris Windows NT and then market
ourselves as supporting both UNIX and Windows NT.  Our own *version*
of Windows NT, granted, but...you get the point.  ;-)
     
This is another not-so-subtle attempt by M$ to bifurcate Java. If they
can eliminate any 'standard' attached to the name, they won't have to
ship JFC, or implement any of the Java interfaces they don't like.
     
> Java is a computer language with which programmers write software. The
> allure of software written in Java is that a single version of a program can
> run on many types of computers without the programmer having to modify it 
> for different systems.
     
Yes, and if M$, Intel and the rest succeed in this ploy, it will effectively 
kill that prospect. It wil become *exactly* like C -- platform dependent.
     
> Sun, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has been pitching Java as the universal 
> language of the Internet, the global computer network. But Intel, Microsoft,
> Compaq and Digital Equipment are contending that Java cannot evolve and 
> become a universal language if Sun dictates its direction.
     
What, only if WinTel can dictate it's direction?  Yeah, right.
     
> Sun executives could not be reached immediately for comment.
     
But we can guess what Scott's comment would be, right? ;-)