They're looking to recoup $20 million...
[size=xx-small]By Joris Evers
IDG News Service, 12/08/03
Microsoft will stop distributing several older products next week as a
result of a legal settlement with Sun in a dispute over Java, Microsoft
said.
Among the products that Microsoft will cut from its distribution channels on
Dec. 15 are all versions of Windows 98 except Windows 98 Second Edition;
Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition; all Office 2000 editions; Office XP
Developer edition and SQL Server 7, Tony Goodhew, a product manager in
Microsoft's developer division, said Monday.
"There is a list of products that we can no longer ship as of Jan. 2, 2004,
because they include a version of the Microsoft virtual machine that we are
no longer able to distribute as part of our settlement with Sun," Goodhew
said.
Java is a programming language that allows developers to write applications
that can run on any computer regardless of its operating system. Microsoft's
virtual machine allows users to run Java applications on Windows PCs. Other
vendors, including Sun, also make virtual machines for Windows.
By the end of the year Microsoft will release updated versions of some of
its products without the virtual machine, so that it can continue to
distribute them, Goodhew said. They are the Workstation, Server and
Enterprise Server editions of Windows NT 4.0; Office XP Professional Edition
with FrontPage; Small Business Server 2000; ISA Server 2000 and Publisher
2002, he said.
The companies settled a three-year-old breach of contract lawsuit in January
2001 that Sun had filed against Microsoft. Sun, creator of Java, had accused
Microsoft of violating a licensing and distribution agreement by
distributing a version of Java that was not compatible with Sun's.
As part of the settlement, Microsoft paid Sun $20 million and agreed to a
plan to retire products that included its allegedly incompatible Java
distribution.
Earlier this year, Microsoft and Sun agreed to extend another deadline
related to the settlement. The agreement allowed Microsoft to continue
supporting its virtual machine until Sept. 30, to give its customers more
time to stop using the software. However the software giant decided to phase
out the products now.
"As part of our settlement and license extension with Sun, we can only
modify the Microsoft virtual machine until Sept. 30, 2004," Goodhew said.
"After that date we will not be able to modify the virtual machine for any
reason, including security. We will not ship products that include a piece
of software we cannot provide security fixes for."
Though the products will no longer be available in the channel or for
download from Microsoft's Developer Network (MSDN), current users will still
be able to use them, Goodhew said. Also, users can continue to buy licenses
for the products, for example to install it on more computers from a current
CD or a corporate network, he said.
"This is not making anyone upgrade. If you are a company and you decide that
you need another Windows 98 license for some reason, you will be able to get
another license," he said.
.The full list of products that Microsoft will retire from the channel as of
Dec. 15, according to a posting in a Microsoft news group, are: Office XP
Developer; Visio 2000; BackOffice Server 2000; Office 2000 Developer; Office
2000 Tools; Office 2000 Multilingual; Office 2000 Premium SR-1; Office 2000
Service Pack 2; Outlook 2000; Project 2000; SQL Server 7; SQL Server 7
Service Pack 3; Embedded Visual Tools 3.0; Visual Studio 6 MSDE; Internet
Explorer 5.5; MapPoint 2002; Visual Studio 6.0 SP3 and SP5; Windows 98;
Windows 98 Y2K; Windows 98 Resource Kit; Windows 98 SP1; Windows NT 4.0
Terminal Server and Option Pack and Visual Basic for Alpha Systems.
The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.[/size]
