Memories come back haunting. Embrace and extend...

"We do NOT want to ship the ’standard’ with Windows because we want to make the native APIs more attractive. We want to evolve the standard APIs rapidly, and not have ISVs [independent software vendors] spending time on something that is cross-platform. Java standard server APIs are bad news for us. I veto any cooperation with this group unless someone comes and convinces me otherwise."

--Bill Gates, Microsoft

"Don’t encourage new, cross-platform Java classes, especially don’t help get great Win 32 implementations written/deployed. [...] Do encourage fragmentation of the Java classlib space."

--Ben Slivka, Microsoft

Watch this report about Microsoft becoming a Golden sponsor for the Java Developer Conference in Egypt.

Microsoft? Yes, Microsoft will be a Golden sponsor in the Java Developer Conference which organized by the Egyptian Java User Group.

Doesn't Microsoft compete aggressively against Java with its proprietary .NET?

This has shades of other troublesome involvements by Microsoft, including:

• Hijacing of Linux and Free software events in India. It's a recurring pattern which attendants, as opposed to paid (by Microsoft) organisers, complain about.
• Pia Waugh helped the coordination of a meeting that discusses OOXML. This later turned out to be rather benign.
• Apache got invited to Redmond in order to improve Windows compatibility (at the expense of GNU/Linux).

The reader who alerted us about this Microsoft sponsorship in Egypt adds: "There's certainly more than a bit of gall there given the breach of contract fight Microsoft caused Sun over distributing a broken Microsoft-only turd using Java's name."

Microsoft appears to be buying its way to accomplish goals. It is important that one learns from history however. Apologies for a sensationalist headline. We just hope to draw the organisers' attention to the issue. ⬆

Related articles:

• Developers Embrace Java, Drop Visual Basic



• Survey: Windows loses ground with developers

"The core of this trial is consumer choice and the premise is that consumers ought to make that decision, not Microsoft. Microsoft’s argument that says Java would have died anyway is a little bit like saying if somebody shoots you they can defend [themselves] by saying you have cancer."

--David Boies