One key area for swift improvement is a better working relationship between Microsoft's Active Directory and Sun's Identity Server, part of its Enterprise Java System software, Schwartz says.
It's about time that happened, says Tony Scott, chief technology officer at General Motors Corp. "GM's whole desktop [network] runs off Active Directory," Scott says. GM also runs Sun's Directory and Identity Servers. "Getting better interoperability between them would help," he says, potentially saving 5% to 10% on project-development and deployment costs.
Microsoft and Sun also are cooking up some cooperative use of Microsoft's database, SQL Server. It has more to do with Sun's need to store management information in its Java Enterprise System software than with creating a database platform, Schwartz says. "There's definitely ample opportunity for us to think about the way to strategically align our products for the growth of both our businesses."
"One glaring omission in the Sun [software] stack is no database-management system," says Peter O'Kelly, an analyst with research firm the Burton Group. "Microsoft drivers for SQL Server, if you're a Java developer, are subpar," he says. Microsoft started making its own Java database driver within the past few years to improve quality, a manager at the company says.
Sun and Microsoft plan to remain fierce competitors. Sun has no plans to back off marketing its Java Desktop, which offers a Microsoft Office look-alike, Star Office, and Linux as an alternative to Microsoft's PC software, Schwartz says. The alliance has been described as potentially anti-Linux, but Schwartz says Sun's success with Java Desktop is "the single biggest propellant to Linux."
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