SAN FRANCISCO -- History may well look back on 20th century computing history and dub two events -- IBM's outsourcing of DOS to Microsoft and Microsoft's licensing of Java -- as equally colossal blunders, according to Scott McNealy, chairman and CEO of Java's owner, Sun Microsystems.

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"Microsoft OEMed the Java virtual machine [JVM] a few years ago and made the same mistake that IBM made in OEMing DOS [to Microsoft]," McNealy said at the JavaOne developers conference here Thursday.

Microsoft in late 1995 had its competitive sights set so firmly on browser leader Netscape that it hastily signed a Java licensing agreement that now remains tied up in Federal court in San Jose, and limits Microsoft's ability to protect its Windows franchise from erosion by Java, said McNealy.

"Microsoft had to get Java to destroy Netscape," said McNealy in a meeting with reporters. "In a panic they signed up for the JVM. ... When you go like crazy, you do crazy things," said McNealy, adding that Microsoft wanted the Java license quickly to announce at a Dec. 7, 1995 press conference at which Microsoft also publicly charted its abrupt course change for the Internet.

Sun has sued Microsoft for copyright issues related to the license, and has won injunctions that force Microsoft to adhere to Sun's definition of the license for use of native Java interfaces, rather than Windows ones, in Microsoft's deployment of Sun's technology.

A court hearing is set for June 24, at which requests for clarification of issues surrounding Microsoft's ability to deploy Java on so-called clean room implementations of virtual machines will be taken up. A clarification hearing was also held this week in the case.

McNealy said he wants Microsoft to go "five straight years" and ship Java-compatible software products in order to satisfy the lawsuit.

Also in his appearances Thursday, McNealy characterized Microsoft as an illegal monopoly that has predatory "monopoly margins" of profit that allow it to unfairly enter and extend its monopoly into new areas. Microsoft reportedly has a war chest of $22 billion in cash on hand to finance its business ventures.

"I believe that Microsoft has a monopoly that can only be overcome by government intervention," said McNealy, again calling for a U.S. Department of Justice-enforced remedy of opening the Windows APIs, curbing Microsoft's investments in other companies and industries, and divesting its current equity partner holdings in any such companies.

Sun Microsystems Inc., in Mountain View, Calif. is at www.sun.com.