MS cosies up to Java community

Microsoft has already been accused of trying to remould Java in its own image, and its latest initiative will do little to quosh those fears. The software vendor is to announce new tools, libraries and development partners which it claims will make it easier to write Java applications for Windows.

At the Internet World trade show in Los Angeles, Microsoft will discuss details of a new version of Visual J++. Dubbed VJava 98, the new version will be the vehicle for a number of Windows-specific extensions to Java.

Microsoft is working to ship a beta of VJava 98 in time for its Visual J++ conference next month in Los Angeles, sources have said.

These latest moves are only going to antagonise Sun Microsystems, Java's inventor, which has been waging a war of words with Microsoft over the issue. Sun says Microsoft, which used to be highly anti-Java, is now effectively trying to highjack the market.