Microsoft Corp. on Monday won a reprieve in its battle with rival Sun Microsystems when an appeals court stayed an order requiring Microsoft to include Sun’s Java programming language in its Windows operating system. The order, from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., comes the day before an order from a lower court was to take effect, requiring Microsoft to include Java in its Windows XP software within 120 days.
The appeals court stayed the order while it considers Microsoft’s appeal of a lower court order requiring the Redmond, Wash.-based software company to distribute Java, a technology designed to let software run on different operating systems.
In a statement, Sun Microsystems said it regretted the appeal’s court’s decision, saying the requirement to include Java would “benefit consumers and ... the Java community’s developers, enterprises and system vendors.”
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