Sun Microsystems has ended a feud with year another partner and competitor. In the opening keynote this morning at JavaOne in San Francisco, Sun's president and chief operating offericer told delegates that the company has signed an agreement with long time rival IBM to licence Java for the next 10 years.

The deal seems like a no-brainer. If IBM wouldn't renew its Java licence, WebSphere becomes a fairly worthless product: it would fork away from Java over time would either fall behind or create another legal nightmare.

Still, knowing for sure that IBM will put its force behind Java for another ten years is good news for Sun.

Especially because as part of the deal IBM has promised to make Websphere, DB2, Tivoli and Rational available for Solaris on x86 servers. IBM was one of the last companies to hold out on supporting its software on the platform.

There aren't any company's left that Sun is fighting with, Sun's chief executive Scott McNealy said jokingly during a press conference. With a bunch of interoperability and support deals in place, Sun is broadening its portfolio. Making sure that is has an offering for any application.

With the technological hurdles out of the way, it can start competing for real.
Sun chief operating officer Jonathan Schwartz

Robert LeBlanc, general manager for IBM's Websphere software (left) and John Loiacono, executive vice president for Sun's software group.

Java creator James Gosling must have the largest collection of Duke themed clothing in the world

Sun chief operating officer Jonathan Schwartz and chief executive Scott McNealy rejoice over the lack of enemies.

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28 Jun 2005