Microsoft Corp. is battling Sun Microsystems Inc.'s request to regulate its business practices just a month after the world's largest software maker won court approval of its antitrust settlement with the U.S. government.
Sun Microsystems wants a judge to order the inclusion of its Java programming language in every copy of Microsoft's Windows XP as a penalty for Microsoft's illegal efforts to discourage Java's adoption by software developers. Putting Java in Windows operating system software would increase competition for programs that power Internet-linked computer networks, Sun says.
Legal experts say Sun will have difficulty persuading U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz to implement the proposal, which was already rejected by another federal judge in the government's antitrust case. Motz today convenes a three-day hearing in Baltimore to consider evidence supporting Sun's plan.
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