It's Sun v Microsoft in fight for e-services supremacy

And there was also no doubting the pleasure the company took in declaring that, in sharp contrast to Microsoft, Sun's big dream was already 80 per cent reality. While Microsoft execs talk wistfully of projections of uptake in markets two, three and five years down the line, Sun says it can give you Sun ONE now.

So how can the old hardware company (Sun) have beaten the software giant (Microsoft) to the draw so convincingly on its home turf - the delivery of a software vision?

The answer comes when you look at the content of the two strategies.

In real terms Sun's announcement consists solely of some new Java APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) which allow the programming language to communicate with XML-based documents. Noble indeed, but not world shattering.

Yes, Sun talks about a world of "Smart Web Services" - like Microsoft (and indeed HP, with its e-speak) - but when asked how it will happen, gets rather vague. "Industry partnerships", "open standards" and "broad-based initiatives" are apparently the way forward.

In other words, Sun's not going to do it itself.

And in many ways, you can't blame the company. Despite Sun's control of Java, software (outside of OS Solaris) has never really brought home the bacon. It would love this to drive software revenues for it, but ultimately as long as it means corporates keep buying Sun boxes running Solaris, it'll be happy.

For Microsoft the game has much higher stakes. And that's why it'll take longer to deliver. It's vision is not only more comprehensive and more ambitious, but also much more important to its future. The .NET vision involves changes in every aspect of its business - from its operating system to its channel strategy.

In other words, it's life or death for Microsoft. But for Sun - which has really just re-packaged a bunch of what it does already - it's just a nice chance to get one over on Redmond.

And who can blame them for that?