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Microsoft launches a "Java" version to prevent programmers using Java.

The most likely effect of today's launch of VJ#, or "Visual J Sharp" for .NET - as a programming language, could easily be to distract Java-trained programmers from using Java, which is a major player in the mobile arena.

The .Net language, Visual J Sharp, is not Java. Visual J# .NET provides "an easy transition for Java-language developers into the world of XML Web services," says Microsoft. In other words, they can start writing for .NET instead of writing for the Java runtime environment, without having to learn a new language.

It also claims that VJ# "dramatically improves the interoperability of Java-language programs with existing software written in a variety of other programming languages." That probably means that applications written in other languages, which don't fall into the Java playpen, don't have to be re-written for Java.

What it does mean, is that Java-trained programmers, who are in demand for a lot of mobile applications, will now be able to work in non-Java development. This was attacked by Java's inventor, Sun, as "corrupting Java" allowing it to be used in ways that undermined the original dream of "write once, run anywhere." Microsoft is fighting a lawsuit over this, with Sun.

Microsoft says it expects to get 15-20% of "the Java language community" using the VJ# language under .NET. And if you think that's unreasonable, they point out that Visual J version 6.0 today "is still the number one used Java IDE" with 18% usage. "That's 3-4 years old. So we should easily be able to get VJ# to 15% within 12 months," said Microsoft's chief VJ# evangelist, Tony Goodhew, product manager for Microsoft's developer division.