Sun Microsystems says it will ship a version of its Java 2 development platform for Linux in the first quarter.

Sun and independent software vendor Inprise Corp. have ported Java 2 Standard Edition, the core Java Virtual Machine code for executing apps that run on multiple platforms, to the open-source operating system. Today, Sun posted a release candidate, or near-final version of the code, on its Web site at http://www.java.sun.com/. In addition, Inprise said it will distribute the software development kit in its Jbuilder product.

Sun offers its Java 2 Standard Edition development environment for its Solaris operating system and for Microsoft Windows. Porting the code to Linux will let corporate developers run dynamic Java Server Pages on Linux Web servers, for example. "The wave of Linux E-commerce servers is just starting," says Rick Schultz, a product line manager for Java software at Sun. "People who are already invested in Java can now take a look at Linux without porting applications themselves." Sun expects additional vendors of tools, application servers, and database software to license Java 2 for Linux as well, Schultz adds.

Sun released version 1.2.2 of Java 2 Standard Edition on Linux and plans to ship that version as its first-quarter release. Version 1.3, which adds Sun's next-generation "HotSpot" virtual machine, is slated for release on the Linux platform during the second quarter.