Was Sun nudged to the sidelines?

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

ANALYSIS
Sun's Java is, after all, the foundation of most of the Web services solutions offered by the WS-I's inaugural board members. Even casual observers must have been wondering how an important interoperability organization could exist without Sun being afforded status equal to Microsoft and Java 2 Enterprise Edition licensees IBM, Oracle, BEA, and Hewlett-Packard. Two months later, and still no Sun. What happened? Did Sun's invitation get lost in the mail? Or was a decision made to exclude Sun from the board? And could such a decision be part of a larger plot to marginalize Sun's Web services stature? This much is known: Sun was invited. But the nature and the circumstances of that invitation make it clear that someone or some group decided not to include Sun as a board member. The idea for something like the WS-I had been floating around for some time. During the fall of 2001, the idea was being discussed at business meals and industry events. By January, IBM and Microsoft officially hatched the WS-I and were lining up its board members. Oracle's invitation to be a WS-I board member arrived sometime in early January, according to senior director of Oracle9i product marketing, John Magee. Meanwhile, Sun was kept in the dark. It wouldn't be until February 4, just two days before the public announcement of the WS-I, that Sun vice presidents Marge Breya (SunONE) and Richard Green (Java) were informed of the WS-I and invited to join with a less-than-board member "contributor" role by IBM's Director for eBusiness Standards Strategy Bob Sutor. Many other companies were offered membership during the same two-day period, according to both Sutor and his Microsoft counterpart--.Net Platforms Strategy group director Neil Charney. They have insisted that Sun wasn't singled out for a last minute invitation. But that doesn't address the question of why Sun, perceived by many as a leader in Web services, wasn't invited to join earlier as a board member. About a week later, at the launch of Microsoft's Visual Studio .Net, Bill Gates extolled Microsoft's membership in the WS-I while deriding Sun's lack of participation. What Gates neglected to point out was that Sun hardly had any time to evaluate the proposal and was at that point considering membership. Both Microsoft's Charney and IBM's Sutor deny any intent to marginalize Sun. Both insist that they sought members for the WS-I's board who, historically, have demonstrated leadership in Web services. Reflecting on history, Charney said, "If you asked Sun, you wouldn't necessarily get a positive answer about Web services." Sutor concurred, adding that "When it comes to the XML-based standards that most people consider to be a part of Web services, Sun does not pop to the top of that list of people."
Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the Tech Update forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Simon Bisson and Mary Branscombe

Nice to see that Turing's idea of a general purpose computer doing once-hardware-powered tasks in software is now universal ;-) Mary

5 hours ago by Simon Bisson and Mary Branscombe on Software with everything
Jason Burchell

seriously now. I've only bothered to read a small bit of the comments. do me and the rest of the world a favour. stop saying it does not work or...

9 hours ago by Jason Burchell via Facebook on Music industry negotiating over 24-bit downloads
Philip Charles Cohen

Read about it and weep, John Donahoe ... In addition to Visa’s V.me, there is now MasterCard’s PayPass digital wallet soon to arrive; another...

13 hours ago by Philip Charles Cohen via Facebook on PayPal takes phone-based payments to the high street
apexwm

Leslie Satenstein : Where have you ever seen Mozilla even mention this? Firefox is the most popular browser in the GNU/Linux OS, so I don't see...

14 hours ago by apexwm on Firefox rapid release improves Fedora Linux
songmaster

SHleG: Do you remember building a clockwork scorpion kit (I'm pretty sure I have a photo of it somewhere) — I think it was called something like...

16 hours ago by songmaster on Software with everything
Chris Wortman

Good I love Yahoo! Their search engine is getting better than Google as of late. I find more of what I want on the first page, and usually within...

16 hours ago by Chris Wortman via Facebook on Linux Mint 13 ramps up for KDE release
PatrickG

openhgs has made the point for Windows 8 multiple monitors without realising it! With Windows 7 you have to switch the mouse and so your focus...

18 hours ago by PatrickG on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
Leslie Satenstein

Mozilla has threatened to stop supporting Linux. I guess that UBUNTU is going with another browser. I indicated that if Mozilla stops supporting...

19 hours ago by Leslie Satenstein via Facebook on Firefox rapid release improves Fedora Linux
Andy Bolstridge

Much as I abhor Microsoft's licensing practices, this is almost certainly down to purchasing IT equipment via 3rd party consultants - you get the...

20 hours ago by Andy Bolstridge via Facebook on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT
Jack Schofield

@openhgs Windows users have had multiple desktops since Linus started writing Linux. They just haven't shipped as standard because not enough...

2 days ago by Jack Schofield on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
Jack Schofield

@Phil at Cloud4 What, Microsoft gets £1,200 per PC and £1,622 per server? Gosh, I'm amazed....

2 days ago by Jack Schofield on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT
craigsc

You guys have no idea what is going on at Autonomy. Autonomy could have been a much more profitable organization. The sales operations at Autonomy...

2 days ago by craigsc on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves
Moley

How does this impact on dual or multi booting? Seems to me to more or less prohibit this, from Windows 8 anyway. Will Grub 2 recognise Windows 8,...

2 days ago by Moley on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround
apexwm

I don't understand why there cannot be a slight pause during the boot process so the user can press a key. Many operating systems do this, even if...

2 days ago by apexwm on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround
Gavin Goodman

You can now buy the Xi3 modular computer in the UK at http://www.ocdistribution.com . This can be bought with the Tand3m software, pricing and...

2 days ago by Gavin Goodman on CES 2012: Xi3 microSERV3R
Phil at Cloud4

I agree: Mike Lynch can clearly build a business and manage strategy. I suspect the exit of Mike is more likely the end of a planned handover...

2 days ago by Phil at Cloud4 on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves
Phil at Cloud4

This is unbeleivable government wastage with only one winner... Microsoft 1 - Tax payer Nil!

2 days ago by Phil at Cloud4 on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT
Mispam

So what do you do when you can't boot into windows? Why can't I just hold Shift while I power up instead of having to boot into windows and click a...

2 days ago by Mispam on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround
apexwm

I've also seen that Mac OS X for Intel machines is supposed to run in VirtualBox, which would also be a nice solution. I've never tried it though.

2 days ago by apexwm on xTreme Triple Booting: Linux, Mac & Windows
dave heasman

What I wonder is why when companies are caught bang to rights in not providing contracted services, people bend over to smear the customers? Surely...

2 days ago by dave heasman on Virgin throttles broadband for high-speed customers