Sun Says Microsoft Alliance No Paper Truce

Customers of both Sun Microsystems and Microsoft continue to challenge the two companies to work more closely.
Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's president and chief operating officer, said in an interview last week that it's essential for both Sun and Microsoft to make their platforms work more easily together so buyers can base their growing Web services on both of them.

It appears that buyers will hold the pair to that goal.

"These two were pushed together by a common threat from IBM and open-source consortiums. They've come together to combat their continued erosion of market share," said Richard Plane, chief technologist of Harris Corp. Such alliances can't always adhere to their original ideals.

Schwartz said Sun "will do nothing to bias Java" for its own ends.

Customers might react negatively if they saw something in the alliance that appeared to compromise Java. "If we saw evidence of that happening, you'd see us vote with our dollars to make our feelings known," says Tony Scott, General Motors Corp.'s chief technology officer: