ager for Microsoft's consumer appliances marketing team. He says the consumer appliance market in 1998 is not unlike the PC market was in 1981: fragmented and lacking standards. "We see Microsoft taking the leadership position to help define the standards," he says. Sun instead promotes network computing as everything that Microsoft is not: it is about powerful server computers fueling immense networks of connected appliances that will replace PCs. Both companies face serious hurdles- including a lack of experience selling to makers of consumer electronics-and a slew of other competitors. The battle between the two companies has spilled beyond the marketplace. Last year, Sun sued Microsoft, alleging the software giant sought to torpedo Java by creating a version of the language that breaks Java's most salient feature: the ability to let programs run identically on all machines. Sun scored a key, but preliminary, victory last month when a federal judge in San Jose ordered Microsoft to mend its ways. Most analysts say the battle for the consumer market remains wide open. Companies ranging from cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. to smart card manufacturers Schlumberger and Gemplus appear to be playing the two rivals off each other, cutting deals with both. And a slew of successful competitors in niche markets are determined not to be displaced by Sun or Microsoft. Sun has announced alliances with major electronic equipment makers around Java. But as one former Sun executive who asked not to be named says, Sun has yet to find an important partner that "is joined at the hip with them in the consumer space."AOL may fit that bill. The world's largest online service said it would develop a consumer appliance based on Java that connects with AOL's services.There's no doubt that Java and Sun's ambitious vision for network computing have grabbed much of the headlines recently: in the past two years 4,550 stories in U.S. newspapers mention Sun's...
