December 1999 Sun Microsystems publicly released a series of eighty mini-programs known as Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) which are designed to enhance large corporate servers. This two-year project had been undertaken by numerous programmers from dozens of companies, working together on what they believed to be an open-source project to enhance the Web-wise Java language created by Sun. Many of these companies now feel betrayed because Sun Microsystems is attempting to levy a royalty against …showed first 75 words of 560 total…

…showed last 75 words of 560 total…in defining Java¡¦s future. Sun attempted to work with a standards body but abandoned its latest effort in December. Forbes wonders how the other guys can fight back, suggesting they could form their own Java standards body -- over Sun's objections. They could develop alternatives to the ¡§official¡¨ Java or pursue different software altogether. In the end, Forbes notes, ¡§The most likely outcome is that the fractiousness will continue: These guys need each other.¡¨