Sun's Jini OS project aims to simplify the integration of Java-enabled devices by allowing the devices to automatically send small applets to each other.

CNN: Appliances get smart

Microsoft's MMC plug-ins - which are management applets that run inside the console - replace many of the old configuration and administration tools that currently ship with NT, such as the User Manager, Server Manager and Event Viewer.

CNN: How to prepare for Windows 2000

Initially seen as a way to enhance web pages, Java was soon talked of as a lingua franca for computers: small programs, called applets, written in Java would be distributed via the Internet and downloaded to run on any computer, regardless of operating system.

ECONOMIST: Sun and Microsoft