dial tone, users of Internet appliances will get "Web tone," McNealy says. The company revived a once-forgotten company motto: "The Network is the Computer." And it is promoting its vision with characteristic fervor. "We've made an assumption that every man, woman and child on the planet will be connected at all times to a high-speed network," McNealy says. Sun officials admit they don't yet have all the answers needed to turn this vision into reality, but they plan to have many of the pieces in place: it will require high-powered computers doling out huge amounts of information, Sun's mainstay business; and it will require software to run on billions of appliances. Java, Sun hopes, will do that. "Every day, 27,000 people (at Sun) get up and do one thing: network computing," Zander says. "That's a very, very powerful story." Sun has created a new division to promote Java as the technology of choice for small consumer devices and embedded software, the programs that run inside everything from phone switching to factory automation equipment. Unless it succeeds in those markets, Sun believes it risks losing control of the computer servers it now thrives on, and perhaps be relegated to selling only its most powerful computers into niche markets. "We think the embedded and consumer space is a defensive play," Zander says. "If we don't play in that space, eventually our story will be incomplete." That's in part because Microsoft is going after the same consumer and embedded markets with its Windows CE operating system. The company that successfully provides the software of choice for consumer devices is guaranteed to have an edge in selling the servers that connect them.In Microsoft's world view, many of the appliances are meant to be companions to today's PCs. Windows CE, which gives devices a "look" they are familiar with, is key."People value the Windows interface optimized for different (devices)," says Roger Gulrajani, group product man...
