Caught in the crossfire By Bob Trott InfoWorld Electric Posted at 3:55 PM PT, Feb 19, 1999 Confusion in the Windows developers' community continues to mount as Microsoft ponders its next Java moves - both in court and in its own product plans. The most recent by-product of this confusion emerged last week, when several members of Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) said they had not received all of the Java-related software they were promised when they signed up for MSDN. Microsoft's efforts to bring its products into compliance with Sun Microsystems' Java implementation following a court order is creating a series of cascading delays across a range of products. For example, although Microsoft recently released a new version of its Java virtual machine, that version is not yet available through MSDN. The MSDN software shipment hiccup belies Microsoft's state-ments that the Java lawsuit, in the preliminary injunction requiring it to comply with Sun's guidelines, would not affect its product plans and schedules. "This ruling will not impact Microsoft's ability to deliver any Windows operating systems product to our customers," according to a page on Microsoft's Visual J++ Web site. Doug Ward, a developer in Beede, Ark., spent $2,400 to become a "Universal" member of MSDN last week. But instead of the 42 software CDs he was expecting, he received only one. According to Ward, MSDN representatives told him that because of Java-compliance issues, he would not receive the full software library until April. "I complained about the impact this will have on my [project] deadline, and they suggested I purchase the individual components," Ward said. Another developer, in France, did not get his January MSDN software shipment on time, according to a message he posted in an MSDN newsgroup. When he checked with Microsoft, he was told that "no product related to Java may be shipped by Microsoft." He was told that "applies to about 70 percent of MSDN." "Because of the injunction, we had to reconfigure a little bit ... and anything we had that wasn't compliant, we couldn't ship," said Eric Rothenberg, MSDN lead product manager. One analyst said the MSDN situation was an example of the little guy getting caught in the crossfire. "A lot of people [are] pleased Microsoft has been told it's been naughty, but tens of thousands of developers now have to wait," said Clay Ryder, chief analyst at Zona Research, in Redwood City, Calif. Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com. Bob Trott is InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief. From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Feb 19 21:42:01 1999