Technology

National | Technology | Chris Stamper

Bitter over Java

MICRO soft and Sun Microsystems this month ended one of

the computer industry's greatest feuds by settling their legal dispute over the Java programming language. Microsoft will pay $1.6 billion to settle the case.

While upstaged by the Justice Department's antitrust battle with Microsoft, Sun's spat was still bitter. Chairman Scott McNealy once referred to Microsoft software as a "hairball" that clogs systems and compared Bill Gates to Darth Vader. Mr. McNealy has long supported Java, which lets programmers write software that can run on multiple operating systems.

The settlement doesn't necessarily spell happy times for Sun. The company is losing money—and plans to shed 3,300 jobs (about 9 percent of its work force). It still reels from the dot-com bust, the Linux boom, and the decline in corporate spending.

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