Sun outlines Java vision

NEWS Sun Microsystems has fought back against an attempted coup to wrest control of Java by outlining its future plans for the programming language. Speaking the day after Hewlett Packard, Microsoft and 12 other vendors announced the formation of a rival standards group, Sun launched its specification for a scaled-down version of Java for embedded applications. The move comes soon after Sun was criticised by its licensees for developing the language too slowly. Vicki Shipkowitz, product manager at Sun, claimed EmbeddedJava was the first time users could configure Java. She said the virtual machine for EmbeddedJava could be shrunk by 130Kb and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) could eliminate functions from the class libraries. Motorola and Alcatel are among the companies that have already licensed the platform.