Sun tries to bury the web services hatchet with Microsoft

NEWS Sun Microsystems has signed up to a Microsoft-led security standard in a move which shows that the two companies may be ending their ongoing web services spat. A senior Sun executive, Bill Smith, director of Liberty Alliance technology, told Reuters that Sun had decided to join the WS-Security standard after being impressed by Microsoft's commitment to keeping the technology open. Microsoft launched the WS-Security initiative with IBM and Verisign in April, trumpeting the fact it would be as important for web services security as SOAP is for application interoperability. However, despite Microsoft's best PR efforts, WS-Security and other web services initiatives - notably the Web Services Interoperability Organisation (WSI) - have been widely seen as in opposition to the Sun-led Liberty Alliance. A high-profile spat between Microsoft and Sun over its entry onto the board of the WSI intensified when court testimony seemed to prove Microsoft had indeed tried to prevent Sun's involvement. However the WSI is currently re-considering Sun's application to join the board, and, in getting behind WS-Security, Sun is again helping to narrow the gulf between the two opposing groups. Sun and Microsoft were unable to confirm the news at the time of publication.