MICROSOFT OPPONENTS GET CLOSER; DEALS MADE ON JAVA.

Byline: David E. Kalish Associated Press 

Now that Apple Computer Inc. has defected, Microsoft Corp.'s remaining opponents have struck a series of deals to tighten their alliance against the dominant maker of personal computer software.

IBM Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. moved Tuesday to coordinate their work on a universal language for developing software that works on any computer system - not just Microsoft's Windows.

The three companies said their engineers will work together to make sure the Java language smoothly runs software formatted for different computers, ranging from Windows to Sun machines. And they'll fine-tune the language to lessen problems, as well as time new releases so software developers get the latest versions at the same time.

In another move, Netscape plans to use Sun technology in its browser for cruising the Internet, which competes against Microsoft's browser, to improve how it works with software written in the Java language.

In a third Java push, Sun announced licensing deals with three big telephone equipment makers that plan to use Java software in new phones, dubbed Webphones, that can tap into the Internet.

And Sun, Netscape and several other high-tech companies - with the notable exception of Microsoft - proposed a technical standard aimed at helping to unclog bottlenecks that have slowed the flow of information across the Internet.

The agreements, presented at a New York trade show devoted to Java software, come after Apple shocked the computer world by agreeing to a broad alliance with archrival Microsoft that includes a deal to develop a programming language that will compete with Sun's Java.

Sun chief executive Scott McNealy, one of Microsoft's most outspoken critics, spent the better part of a keynote speech Tuesday skewering his Microsoft counterpart, Bill Gates.

McNealy rattled off a list of ``Top 10 New Fall Shows on MSNBC,'' Microsoft's joint cable channel with NBC. They ranged from ``Picket Gates'' to ``In a World Without Fences, Who Needs Gates?''

McNealy also poked fun at Apple's defection, noting that the Macintosh maker no longer belonged on the list of companies working on a version of ``100 percent pure Java.'' Microsoft licenses Java from Sun but is creating specialized versions aimed at making Java software work better on its own Windows system.

Sun, Netscape, Marimba Inc., Novell Inc. and Home Network submitted the proposal to the World Wide Web Consortium, a body that sets industry standards.

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Photo: (Color) Scott McNealy

Sun chief executive