Microsoft said it would include its own Java software in the Service Pack 1 update to Windows XP due late this summer. In the long term, though, the company plans to remove Java from Windows altogether.
The reinstatement is a partial victory for Java inventor and Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems, which in the 1990s had hoped people would use the cross-platform language to write programs capable of running on any computer, regardless of the operating system used by the machine.
Faced with serious legal challenges by the Justice Department, several states, Sun, AOL Time Warner and others, Microsoft has adopted a strategy that indicates the company thinks it might be better to bend than to break. In response to legal pressure in a federal antitrust suit, Microsoft is working to make it easier for customers to install third-party "middleware" such as Web browsers, media players or instant-messaging programs in Windows instead of having to use Microsoft's versions of these programs.
But the federal antitrust actions began four years ago and have the potential to drag on for years more. Some believe the company is winning the war of attrition.
Sun's March antitrust lawsuit against the software titan triggered the change, said Jim Cullinan, lead product manager for Windows.
The suit accuses Microsoft of trying to use its desktop computer dominance to take over the server market, where Sun is strong. The suit seeks, among other things, to have Microsoft include in Windows Sun's Java virtual machine (JVM), software that lets a computer run Java programs.
Microsoft decided in April 2001 not to ship a Java virtual machine, instead adding a "download-on-demand" feature that Sun said in its antitrust suit violated settlement terms of an earlier Java legal dispute between the two companies.
Microsoft plans to remove the download-on-demand option "to take an issue off the table with the current legal action by Sun," Cullinan said, and therefore is including its JVM as the "best way to minimise any disruption" to customers. Java is widely used on Web pages.
Cullinan said Microsoft will ship its own JVM, written in 1997 and based on version 1.1.4 of Java. Sun wants Microsoft to ship the more modern version, currently 1.4. Sun offers a download option on its Web page.
Cullinan said Microsoft told both Sun and the court of its decision. Sun said it would comment after reviewing Microsoft's position.
The terms of the settlement of the earlier Java suit gave Microsoft the right to ship its Java software in new products through Jan. 2, 2004, and in existing products through Jan. 2, 2008. Microsoft, meanwhile, is working on software similar to Java, including the C# programming language (pronounced "C-sharp") and accompanying software to let C# programs run on a variety of computing devices.
"For the next year and a half, we are going to include (the JVM) in Windows XP. Then we'll make the changes to make sure that moving forward, we don't put Windows or our customers at risk," Cullinan said, saying that the settlement prohibits Microsoft from updating the software to fix potential future security risks.
Cullinan also said Microsoft disagrees with Sun's assertion that its download-on-demand option violates the settlement of the earlier Java dispute.
Including Java gives Microsoft some legal fodder in its argument that it's complying with the legal requirement to make it easier to remove Microsoft middleware.
Sun's antitrust suit, filed in US District Court, draws heavily on an appeals court decision to uphold a finding a year ago that Microsoft illegally maintained its monopoly in desktop operating systems. Some experts believe Sun may have bitten off more than it can chew with its very broad suit.
