Sun Microsystems won a preliminary injunction againstMicrosoft yesterday in its lawsuit over the Java programming language. Federal Judge Ronald Whyte ruled that Sun has a likelihood of prevailing in its suit when it goes to trial next year, and gave Microsoft 90 days to comply with the order.

Sun had asked for the injunction last spring, to prevent Microsoft from shipping a noncompliant Java virtual machine as part of its Windows 98 operating system. Claiming it was not out to stop shipment of Windows 98, Sun asked the court to require Microsoft to provide one of three remedies: ship Windows 98 without any Java support; ship Windows 98 with fully complaint Java Virtual Machine provided by Microsoft; or ship Windows 98 with Sun's JVM.

The judge did not rule at that time, but held a series of hearings to in recent weeks to determine whether Sun has a serious chance of winning its case. He ruled yesterday for a preliminary injunction, and gave Microsoft three months to choose one of the three options.

Microsoft officials say they will comply with the order, and note that the injunction does not require recall of any products.