Many of these companies now feel betrayed because Sun Microsystems is attempting to levy a royalty against the new release. This decision has especially elicited an angry response from IBM -- Sun's biggest Java partner which developed 80% of the new release. IBM has taken the lead in its refusal to pay the new fees and many smaller companies are following its lead. This latest incident accents the tenuous Java alliance and highlights problems within the o

IBM is not the only company voicing concerns. BEA Systems and SilverStream Software are smaller companies using the J2EE code in their Web-ware. They also must compete with the iPlanet software and fear Sun Microsystems could use its control of Java to leverage an advantage. Sun acknowledges their concerns and is promising not to act in that manner. The charges levied against Sun Microsystems have individuals at Microsoft smiling. "After years of sanctimonious claims that Java was an ¥open standard,' Sun has finally dropped the pretense," notes Charles Fitzgerald, a director in Microsoft's developer group. There was discussion amongst Java developers advocating Sun Microsystems hand control of the Java standard to an independent panel, theoretically allowing all firms equality in defining Java's future. Sun attempted to work with a standard

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sun Microsystems, Microsoft Windows, Enterprise Edition, December Forbes, Edition J2EE, Java Forbes, SilverStream Software, IBM WebSphere, Charles Fitzgerald, IBM We'll, sun microsystems, enterprise edition, -- sun's, java 2, standards body, 2 enterprise, 2 enterprise edition, java 2 enterprise, control java,
Approximate Word count = 573
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)