Dan Roberts, Director of Developer Tools at Sun Microsystems, discussed the company's recent decision to join the IBM-led OpenAJAX Alliance, in an exclusive SYS-CON interview. He was joined by Sun AJAX Architect Greg Murray in the interview, who discussed the importance of interoperability within the Alliance membership.

Roberts told SYS-CON Editorial Director Roger Strukhoff during the interview that Sun was concerned originally that OpenAJAX might have been formed simply to serve as a platform for Eclipse-based development only, and that the original announcement in February 2006 happened very quickly. As the membership grew, the mission was clarified, and Sun discussed things with IBM, these concerns were allayed and Sun is now a member.

Murray stressed the importance of interoperability during the interview, a topic that was identified by OpenAJAX members (before Sun joined the Alliance) as critical during a meeting held during the timeframe of Sun's JavaOne event in San Francisco. Murray and Roberts also discussed the role of Java in all this during the interview, which can be found at http://tv.sys-con.com/read/240130.htm.