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Sun to Unveil Windows - Displacing Software
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 5:41 p.m. ET

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- In a move aimed squarely at Microsoft Corp., 
Sun Microsystems Inc. unveiled on Tuesday a suite of software for 
businesses that want to dump -- or just can't afford -- the Windows 
operating system on their companies' desktop computers.

The Sun Java Desktop system, which was formerly code-named Mad Hatter, 
runs on the open-source Linux operating system and includes a variety of
 programs that replace Microsoft's Internet browser, productivity 
suite and other parts of the Windows package.

In trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Sun shares rose 18 cents, or more
 than 4 percent, to close at $4.04.

Sun officials say its system will cost as little as $50 per user per 
year and can be installed on any computer that can run Microsoft's 
Office 2000. The software also is designed to interoperate with 
Windows-based programs such as Exchange and Microsoft Office.

``We're talking about a radical savings -- more than 75 percent over 
just the comparable upgrade cost for Microsoft,'' said Larry Singer, 
Sun's senior vice president of global market strategies.

Sun, a leading maker of high-end, Unix-based servers, has been 
struggling since the dot-com collapse to bolster sales as systems 
based on inexpensive x86 microprocessors and the Linux operating 
system become more powerful and more viable.

The company has since embraced both x86 chips and Linux in an effort 
to become a leader in low-cost computing. The move toward desktops is 
another facet of that transformation.

But Tuesday's announcement also echoes a theme heard throughout Sun's 
nearly 20-year history: A desire to position itself as an alternative to
 Microsoft in desktop computing.

In the late 1980s, Sun's 386i PC project flopped as the young company 
was then ill-prepared for the market. More recently, attempts to get 
support for its universal programming language Java in desktops have 
been hindered by Microsoft.

In fact, Sun's $1 billion antitrust case over that matter is still 
pending in a Maryland federal court.

Sun's latest attempt tries to leverage its Java brand, which is 
popular on a wide range of computing platforms from servers to cell 
phones but has contributed little directly to the company's bottom 
line.

Singer said because of Java's openness and integration with the new 
Sun desktop software, developers will have access to more components 
of the underlying software than they do with Microsoft's proprietary 
offerings.

Singer said there's another key difference between Sun Java Desktop 
and Microsoft Windows-based systems.

``Guess what? It wouldn't have blown up ... with the worms and the 
viruses'' of recent weeks, he said.

Sun also announced a major upgrade to its StarOffice productivity suite.
 Singer said it would work better than previous versions with 
Microsoft's competing Office suite.

Besides the desktop system, Sun also announced a suite of server 
software at its SunNetwork user conference in San Francisco. The 
software, formerly called Project Orion, has been officially named 
Java Enterprise System. It's priced at $100 per employee per year.

``It's kind of taking a page out of Microsoft's books,'' Singer said. 
``We are for the first time introducing a suite of products that have 
greater value as the sum of the parts than the parts themselves.''

------

On the Net:

Sun Microsystems: http://www.sun.com


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