Microsoft, the Redmond based software giant who sells software for Intel processor based personal computers, has been under legal fire from many sides recently regarding their software licensing practices and perceived monopolistic position in the computer operating system market.
Microsoft’s most successful product, the line of Windows™ operating system software (OS) is estimated to be run on over 80% of personal computers. Recently the US Justice Department (DOJ) filed suit in federal court, alleging that Microsoft is in violation of a 1995 consent decree that was signed by Microsoft and the DOJ after a lengthy anti-trust investigation that concluded only that Microsoft’s licensing practices regarding bundling, or preloading of Windows95 on PC sold directly to consumers was unfair.
Microsoft is currently disputing DOJ’s claims that they are in violation of that agreement by telling vendors they have to take "all of Windows 95", in order to be granted a distribution license. This has upset some other software vendors, most notably Netscape, who say that this is another attempt by Microsoft to capitalize on their position in the software market, by forcing distributors of Windows95 to include Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), as a condition for granting them a license. IE is also available as a stand alone enhancement to previous versions of Windows 95 which did not include it, although Microsoft gives this product away for free, rather than charging for it.
Netscape makes a competing browser that has a majority of the market share. Although that share is slipping, Netscape is estimated to still have over 55% of the installed browser base. The licensing practices in question do not prohibit PC manufacturers from adding other components, such as Netscape to their Windows 95 desktop, it just states that they cannot remove Internet Explorer, or any other Windows 95 component before shipping.
Microsoft’s has always maintained that they intended to integrate the web browser into the Windows 95 operating system, so that there is "no Windows95 without IE". Microsoft has successfully integrated other enhancements not previously included into Windows 95, such as a word processor, fax, e-mail, and networking software.
Another fascinating, yet less publicized political battle regarding Microsoft involves the licensing of Java™ technology from Sun Microsystems. Sun, and others, have banded together in a "pure Java" campaign to discourage Microsoft from adding functionality to the Java programming language that allow developers to take advantage of advanced Windows operating system calls.
Sun invented Java as a programming language that could be used to write applications that would run on any type of computer hardware and software. To that end, they created a specification for Java that would allow developers to use a library of included routines, which would give them the tools necessary to write applications that were OS independent. Many computer companies, including IBM, whose OS2 operating system product was not successful in competing against Microsoft’s Windows NT, jumped on the Java bandwagon as a way to help bring down Microsoft’s dominance in the OS market.
In order for Java programs to run on any type of computer, however, Java libraries can’t take advantage of OS advancements, and must largely remain a "neutered" environment for writing applications. Hardly the type of environment necessary to write today’s modern distributed business applications. This type of "write once, run anywhere" utopian computer vision had been tried before, and always failed. Consumers want the best environment for running programs on the computers they have, and they expect those environments to take full advantage of the hardware they run on.
Microsoft sees Java’s future as a programming language. A replacement for C and C++, which is the language that the majority of Windows programs are written in. Microsoft fully supports Java in this regard, and wants to be the premier manufacturer of Java based compilers and programming tools.
Microsoft is seeking to gain market share for it’s Java development tools, believes the marketplace should decide what is added to Java in addition to the standards. They extended the class libraries it ships with it’s version of Java, so that people can write distributed Java applications for Windows that take advantage of all the underlying features of the operating system. In short, Microsoft wants to sell you the best, most powerful Java, so that people will write Java programs for Windows. Their financial interest lies in selling Windows and Windows based programming tools, so they don’t see the write once, run anywhere mantra chanted frequently by the anti-Microsoft crowd, as being realistic in today’s highly competitive market.
Computer developers, and users alike should stay closely tuned in the near future to stay abreast of the legal issues involved, and to watch the court decisions that have the potential to affect the way all of use computers.