Rumor: IBM ready to buy Sun Microsystems

International Business Machines (IBM) and Sun Microsystems jointedannounced the availability of the JavaOS for Business, one of the longpromised thin-client operating systems based on the Java programminglanguage. But the big news wasn't the OS, which hasn't generated a lot ofexcitement, it was a rumor making the rounds that IBM was getting ready tobuy Sun, fueling a new era of independence from Microsoft. Though neithercompany will discuss the rumors, Sun shares shot up accordingly on thespeculation