San Francisco, California (Reuters) -- Network-computer maker Sun Microsystems is going on the offense against archrival Microsoft by building its Java software as a consumer brand, Sun chairman and chief executive Scott McNealy said on Friday.
"We"re going from defensive to offensive," McNealy said at a press conference after his keynote speech to some 10,000 software programmers at Sun"s JavaOne technical conference in San Francisco on Friday. "We spent eight years building and protecting this brand and now it"s time to go on the offensive."
At the same time, Sun is still in defensive mode, as speculation persists that it may be a takeover target in light of the 92 percent drop in its stock since a record closing high of $64.31 in September 2000.
Since it was introduced in 1995, Java has matured and is now found in everything from Java smart cards to printers, computers, servers and cell phones, and has spawned a community of 3 million software developers.