Documents Unsealed in Sun Micro Case

Microsoft Corp. CEO Bill Gates wanted to “wrest control” of Java away from Sun Microsystems Inc. and prevent the computer programming language from pervading the Internet, according to internal Microsoft e-mail unsealed in federal court in San Jose. The computer messages, sent to Gates by a staffer working on Microsoft Corp.’s Java programming, are among more than 100 pages of previously undisclosed evidence in federal court. The legal briefs provide details behind Sun’s accusations that Microsoft tried to make it impossible for Java to become a universal programming language. Sun, based in Palo Alto, filed suit against Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft last October, seeking $35 million in damages for allegedly developing and distributing a Windows-only form of the language.