On Tuesday, the Palo Alto, California-based company announced that the availability of the next upgrade of its core Java technology, called Java 2, previously code-named JDK 1.2.

Sun Microsystems was expected to launch the software this summer, but it was delayed two times while its engineers worked out problems bugs and continued to improve the software.

Sun's new release of Java, a programming language that allows software developers to write one program that will run on many different computer platforms, will have faster performance, more security and more interoperability with other corporate computing systems, Sun said.

``With Java 2 we are providing all the functionality required with a rock solid platform,'' said Alan Baratz, president of Sun's Java Softwareunit.

``This is what developers have been telling us they needed.''

Analysts said that Java 2 will also include more features that are currently part of a computer operating system, such as graphics rendering capabilities for handling graphics and drag-and-drop functions, to transfer data between programs.

Sun also said that it will change its current licensing model to combine licensing of Java 2 with the open source code model -- a movement with growing momentum where programmers download the software for free, modify it and share it with others.

Software developers will be able to download the Java 2 open source code, the nuts and bolts of the language, for free. They may then develop products, which, when ready for shipping, must pass Sun's compatibility tests for Java. At that point, Sun will collect a licensing fee.

``There has been a lot of pressure on Sun to open up the process,'' said Eric Brown, a Forrester Research analyst. Sun has been under fire from some in the industry, who believethat Sun has too much control over the language and that it needs to be more open to modifications and other input from the software development community.

Sun said it is opening up its software code to enable non-computer industries like automobile manufacturing and television better ability to create Java applications.

``One of the main reasons we did it was to allow a broader base of companies outside the computer industry to get the code to evolve for their industries,'' Baratz said.

Sun released Java in 1995 and since then, Java has been relentlessly promoted as a language that will level the software playing field in an industry dominated by Microsoft Corp. Currently, over 900,000 developers write software in Java.

These developers are all licensees of Sun and their applications must pass strict compatibility tests. Last year, Sun sued Microsoft for breach of contract, saying that Microsoft's version of Java did not pass Sun's tests.

Recently, a US district court judge ruled that Microsoftmust make its Java software compliant with Sun's. On Monday, Microsoft released a

new version of the Java Virtual Machine for Windows that is compatible with Sun's technology.

Sun has had some naysayers in the industry, who have developed their own ``clean-room'' versions of Java from scratch, such as Hewlett-Packard Co., which is developing its own version of Java for specific applications such as printing.

Sun said that, it will also announce that some of the companies that have been developing Java clones are going to be working with Sun as members of the Java community.

``H-P isn't there yet,'' said Baratz, adding that he could not yet disclose which companies are going to embrace Sun's Java. Sun plans a press conference in New York Tuesday evening, as part of the Java Business Expo trade show.