Let me say this about that-- here's a letter I found elsewhere
about this earlier today. This is from an Apple person, not an
MS press release, so hopefully it's a little closer to the truth.
>Subject: Apple-Microsoft Announcement Implications
>Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 12:56:24 -0800
>x-sender: jordan@mail.apple.com
>From: Jordan Dea-Mattson <jordan@apple.com>
>To: "MRJ Dev List" <MRJ-Dev@public.lists.apple.com>
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Sender: owner-mrj-dev@public.lists.apple.com
>Precedence: bulk
>
>Ok, I can see that a lot of concern is present in this list about the
>Apple-Microsoft deal and its implications for Apple support of Java
>compatibility (and hence support for "100% Pure Java" applications) in
>Mac OS and Rhapsody.
>
>At its core, this announcement is about reducing the number of JVMs that
>are present on Apple's platforms. In order for Microsoft to use MRJ,
>there were some features of J/Direct (as opposed to JDirect) that they
>needed folded into MRJ.
>
>The center of gravity is still MRJ for Java development on the Mac OS.
>Apple is still focused on providing a high-performance, high-conformance,
>JVM to achieve Java compatibility and support "100% Pure Java"
>applications on Mac OS and Rhapsody.
>
>Yours,
>
>Jordan
>
>Jordan J. Dea-Mattson
>Senior Partnership & Technology Solutions Manager
>Apple Developer Relations
<snip/>