December 7, 1995 - Today Microsoft has announced that it has signed a letter of intent with Sun for a Java technology source license and that Sun and Microsoft are working through the licensing details. In addition, Microsoft has agreed in principle to provide to Sun Microsoft's reference implementation of the Java virtual machine and AAPI (applet application programming interface) for Windows.

We are happy to be working with Microsoft on a license for the Java technology and look forward to working with them on optimizing the Java technology for Windows.

Microsoft plans to use Java in its Explorer browser, and also has indicated to us that they plan to support JavaScript in Explorer.

As with other significant announcements of the past few weeks, and assuming a final agreement is reached, the Microsoft announcement is significant because:

• By integrating Java into their Explorer browser, Microsoft will be providing Java to a huge base of previously untapped Windows users.
• Microsoft, as part of the proposed agreement, plans to improve the Win 95 port and will share with Sun a reference implementation, which we can then share with our customers.
• It's a major endorsement from the world's largest software firm that our Internet technology is top notch.
• It's further proof that Java has become the de facto open standard for programming on the Internet.
• With Java Sun has established the first programming language that is not tied to any particular operating system or microprocessor. This means that applications written in Java will run anywhere, eliminating one of the biggest headaches for computer users: incompatibility between operating systems and versions of operating systems.

*On Monday, we announced a joint effort with Netscape that we intend to work together to develop a new, open scripting language called JavaScript. This will be aimed at non-programmers who wish to create web pages that use Java applets. Twenty-eight leading technology companies expressed their endorsement of JavaScript.

*On Monday, we also announced that we plan to work with Silicon Graphics and Macromedia to develop common multimedia application programming interfaces (APIs) and file formats for Java that integrate 3D and interactivity. They will be based on Java from Sun and VRML from SGI.

*We also announced with Netscape and SGI a mutual endorsement of VRML, Java and JavaScript to promote standards for multimedia, 3D and interactivity on the Internet.

*On Wednesday, IBM announced that it has licensed the Java technology, and plans to port it to the AIX, OS/2 and Win 3.1 platforms.

*Also on Wednesday, Adobe announced that it had licensed Java and that it will integrate Java into its PageMill authoring tools and Adobe Acrobat.

* Finally on Wednesday, Sybase announced its intention to license the Java technology for use with its databases and commercial tools.

For further information, contact George Paolini (georgep@Corp.Sun.COM).

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