With today's settlement, Microsoft basically drops Java, although it will be allowed to use Sun's version of Java in its software for seven years so that it can continue to support software developers who have already written Java software for Windows.
Indeed, Azul hardware is only optimized to run Internet languages Java and Microsoft.
They also must be able to run over a number of different operating systems, such as Qualcomm 's Brew, Sun Microsystems' Java and Microsoft 's Windows Mobile.
But soon afterward, Sun noticed that Microsoft had added extensions of Java specifically for Windows machines, which could prevent Java programs written for Windows from being run anywhere else.
The lawsuit, filed in 1997, claims that Microsoft sought to take control of Java by "polluting" it with its own changes.
CNN: Judge reinstates piece of Java injunction against Microsoft
This unexpected use of Java is one reason why Microsoft might undermine it, as Sun claims in its suit.
Install patches from Microsoft, Adobe, and Oracle (Java) on a timely basis.
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To add to the menace, the new Java programming language, developed by another Microsoft enemy, Sun Microsystems, had the potential to create applications programmes that could be pulled down from servers linked to the Internet and would run on any operating system.
In the fall of 1998, Whyte issued an injunction ordering Microsoft to make its products compatible with Sun's Java specifications.
CNN: Judge reinstates piece of Java injunction against Microsoft
But Microsoft had identified others, including Sun Microsystems's Java technologies, Intel's Native Signal Processing, and multimedia playback software developed by Apple and RealNetworks.
Other cable companies like Cablevision and Time Warner have also inked deals with Sun for using Java OS. Sun's rivals include Microsoft's Windows CE, OpenTV, and Power TV from Scientific Atlanta.
Sun championed Java as a way to challenge the ubiquity of the Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people) Windows operating system.
They have convinced the Justice Department that Java and Netscape are the last, best hope of destroying Microsoft's hegemony.
Microsoft has always asserted that any changes it made were designed to improve Java's functioning with the Windows operating system.
CNN: Judge reinstates piece of Java injunction against Microsoft
Sun Microsystems invented the Java language and started a mass exodus of computer programming talent away from Microsoft toward Sun.
Some cable firms will succumb to Microsoft's pitch, but most prefer an open standard, possibly based on the Java programming language developed by Sun Microsystems.
Sun's landmark October 1997 lawsuit charged Microsoft with copyright infringement and breach of contract for failing to maintain compatibility with Sun's version of Java.
Sun is no less energetic than Microsoft in pursuit of its own interests, but as things stand, those interests lie in recruiting as many Java disciples as it can.
The importance of the Web browser is that, combined with Java, a software language which can run on any platform and which was developed by another of Microsoft's rivals, Sun Microsystems, it may become a rival to the Windows operating system.
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