Sun, IBM and others are interested in building a different world. Although each vendor prefers their own products, they recognise a world of heterogeneous platforms. They offer solutions that can run in this environment. Also they recognise that the world of enterprise computing is in flux. The boundaries of the corporation are far more fluid than ever before.
Staff move globally, wanting access to corporate information wherever they go.
Corporations merge, acquire and dispose of interests, perpetually altering their scope of activity. Complex customer oriented partnerships are formed that require IT support. The idea that one single platform is to become universally adopted, with one single set of applications is not credible. So to the extent that Sun's recent acquisitions are aimed to combat Microsoft, they are a flanking movement much more than a direct assault. But primarily they tackle a market that Microsoft is unwilling to tackle - the market for heterogeneous computing platforms.