Rumor, they say, is a great traveler – if developers were in any doubt about this, they need only monitor the worldwide rumor-mill surrounding the rivalry between Sun and Microsoft…

(October 9, 2001 - 5 p.m.) - There have been rumblings ever since JavaOne, this summer, that MS had a project code-named “Java.NET”. This heralded an escalation of the Java versus C# war by adapting the .NET platform in such a way as to pave the way, so to speak, for “Microsoft Java.” Indeed, bonus-starved lawyers in Silicon Valley have been slavering over the thought of this ever since these rumors began.

This week came 100% tangible evidence, though, in the form of an official Release Note, dated October 11, that described a beta of “Visual JSharp .NET Version 7.0” – a development tool that, according to the note, “integrates the Java-language syntax into the Visual Studio .NET shell” so that Java developers can use it to build applications and services on the .NET Framework. “Microsoft Visual J# .NET also supports the functionality found in VJ++ 6.0 including Microsoft extensions” the note continues.

The beta download, a 7MB file, appeared ahead of time, only to be removed shortly afterwards. Now you see it, now you don’t.

Clearly the Java.NET rumor, then, was far more than just a rumor. Noting the accompanying disclaimer:

“Visual J# .NET has been independently developed by Microsoft. It is not endorsed or approved by Sun Microsystems, Inc.”

JDJ immediately contacted Sun Microsystems in Santa Clara for an official comment.

“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation,” said David Harrah, Sun’s group manager of Java Public Relations. Sources close to Sun though are saying that at first glimpse this Visual J# looks like nothing more than a release of the JUMP software announced in January after the settlement of the Sun Microsoft lawsuit.

If the download page’s description is (or rather, was) correct, the Microsoft software addresses only the use of the Java programming language, not the Java platform. Sun (and their lawyers) would consider this a crucial distinction, as the platform incorporates the use of the Java Virtual Machine. This is what gives the Java technology its cross-platform compatibility and support – Java’s fundamental value proposition.

The now-withdrawn page originally read:

“Microsoft Visual J# .NET is not a tool for developing applications intended to run on a Java Virtual Machine. Applications and services built with Visual J# .NET will run only in the .NET Framework.”

This means the Microsoft technology remains locked into the .NET Framework and does not operate in the system-agnostic universe of the Java platform. Thus, applications developed with this rumored technology will not enjoy the cross-platform benefits of apps built with the real Java programming language that run with the Java platform.

Sun will be hoping, then, that the MS technology is nothing more than the “bridge” software Microsoft announced in January that provides a minimal migration path for those developers who used VJ++ 6.0, thinking it was compatible with the Java platform.

But is it, JDJ asks, a bridge too far?

VJ++ 6.0 and its “Microsoft extensions” were after all the basis for Sun’s lawsuit against Microsoft precisely because VJ++ 6.0 was not compatible with the Java platform, a violation of the licensing agreement.

Sources close to Sun disclosed to JDJ that the rumored announcement, if true, is nothing more than Microsoft F.U.D. and would only spur Sun to reaffirm their desire that Microsoft license the Java technology in good faith and thereby join the hundreds of other companies that participate in the Java Community Process, which extends and maintains the Java technology. Sun has always held that full support and interoperability should begin with a license.

JDJ can’t help noting that the whole J# .NET rumor – or whatever it is – is eloquent testimony to the increasing pervasiveness of Java over the past six years and the increasing demand from users that Microsoft products provide true interoperability with the Java platform.

Similarly, last week’s SQL Server/J2EE connector announcement from Microsoft could be viewed as a clear realization by MS that they need to supply technologies that connect their software with Java.