A little quiz for you. Consider the following quote: "ASP is faster and more effective for simple Web applications than Java." Which company said it?

Microsoft would be the obvious choice, since it's the one that came up with ASP (Active Server Page) technology in the first place and it has a spotty record on Java support.

But if you picked it, you'd be wrong. So who is the culprit? Step forward... er... Sun. The line comes from the flyer promoting its Cobalt RaQ 4 server appliance. Thanks to reader Dave for pointing it out to us. The flyer was written earlier this year.

To be fair, the RaQ 4 has very little Microsoft technology in it. It's based on Linux and ASP functionality is provided by a developer called ChiliSoft, though its compatible with MS' FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions. It ships with a Java Runtime Environment. It also supports CGI, which is also said to be less effective and slower for said "simple" Web apps than ASP.

Cobalt's engineers may have a point, but we're not sure that Sun HQ will be too happy about what its latest acquisition is saying about its baby - particularly in a comparison with a Microsoft-developed technology.

Whoops.

You can read Sun's argument for the superiority of Java's JSP technology over ASP here</>. Perhaps the Cobalt guys would like to take a look too. ®