Before C# even existed, I know that Java and C++ had extremely similar syntax. I'm not sure exactly what the connection is, but Java, Javascript, C, and C++ are somehow related.
I'm sure that C# is just based off of C++. So, I don't think that it's the case that Microsoft is copying Sun. They're just modifying and improving on a language that is already very similar to Java.
Anyone know more about this?