Microsoft drops Java tool from suite
Due to the Sun-Microsoft Java legal fight, Microsoft decides not to include Visual J++ with its upcoming Visual Studio.Net tool
July 12, 2000 — Microsoft confirmed that Visual J++, its Java-based tool, will not be part of the pending Visual Studio.Net tool suite when it ships.
A Microsoft spokesperson said that due to litigation with Sun Microsystems, Microsoft cannot innovate with Java.
“If we do the wrong thing, that would just complicate things,” he said. Microsoft has maintained that Visual J++ and Java should be part of the .Net platform. The company declined to comment on prospects of reintroducing Visual J++ into the suite sometime in the future.
Microsoft is still supporting Java, however, with a third-party tool from Rational Software that will be bundled into the Visual Studio.Net suite. “Microsoft and Sun are in litigation, and I think it’s a believable notion that Microsoft is holding off until they get that straightened out,” said Will Zachmann, a vice president at Meta Group, in Duxbury, Mass.
“If Sun’s position is that the tweedling [Microsoft wants to do to Java] is illegal, then Microsoft’ s position makes sense.”
