HP launches new version of Java, plans licence to Microsoft

By coming out with the new software before Sun and then licensing it to Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard may have helped weaken the industry’s alliance against Microsoft. "The real winner here might just be Microsoft," said Ron Rappaport, analyst with Zona Research in Redwood City, California. "Before, it was largely perceived to be Sun vs Microsoft. This makes it harder for Sun to point to one direction for developers to follow." Microsoft already licenses Java from Sun but also is being sued by Sun over its use of the "Java-compatible" logo in its software. "What the HP people did was create a Java that works really well in small-footprint devices, like hand-held PCs," a Microsoft spokesman said. He said the software could open the "next big frontier" of Internet-accessible machines. HP plans to include the new software in some of its own products, such as printers, as well as in commonhousehold appliances in order to make them more Internet-accessible.

As an example, it used a printer embedded with the new software that could potentially monitor its own toner levels, and when it ran low, automatically go online to order a new supply.

Several other applications are envisioned, which could streamline the process through which companies collect and store information. "Java is really balkanizing," Rob Enderle, an analyst at Giga Information Group in Santa Clara, Calif, said. "We now have multiple vendors entering the space with different solutions." Although small hand-held PCs are widely used in factories and by workers in the field to record data, they are often not compatible with a company’s main database, meaning the information cannot flow directly into back-office computers.

The new HP software also paves the way to make smarter consumer appliances that could connect to the outside world. Software makers have described a video disc player that could download material from theInternet, or a microwave oven that a user could program from his car, instructing it to begin heating a dinner so that it was ready when he arrive home. Word of the new software crept out in recent days, and Hewlett-Packard said the level of interest from other companies has been "extremely high." It has not yet disclosed pricing but said that, based on Sun’s current licensing arrangements, it expects its software to be cheaper.

The release date is still three months away, but Microsoft Corp’s much-awaited Windows 98 took a step closer to market Friday after an Internet-based reseller started taking orders for the new version of the operating system.

Official pricing for the software has yet to be announced by Microsoft, but at Chumbo — a reseller located on the World Wide Web at chumbo.com — customers may "pre-order" Windows 98 for expected delivery on June 25, 1998. The price: $94.99 for the upgrade version and $179.99 for the full version.Microsoft had said Windows 98 would be available atprices similar to those for Windows 95, which is currently available at about $90 to $95 per copy in the upgrade version.

For customers who pre-order, the software will not be available any quicker. Chumbo founder and chief executive David Prais said the company would ship copies of the software the night before the official release date for delivery on whatever morning retail outlets are due to offer copies.