I would probably agree with those points but what's also different this time is the platform is server-centric so it's going full-circle back to the concept of terminals, only these terminals can execute code. Unlike C++, much more has been standardized within the language: threading, security, a component model with introspection, formalized run-time linkage, remote method calls, and so on. What I underestimated was the performance cost of all these features -- bytecode translation is not the performance bottleneck.
Here's where Java is exploding: a replacement for 4GL forms which is probably most of the software out there. It's the least complex, relatively speaking, but the most customized and has the most people developing it. Most importantly, it is a sort of transport layer between backend databases and browsers: Java Server Pages rule, period. This is Inprise's greatest opportunity, ever. Not Delphi; not C++; Java.
I think you're just underestimating the speed of adoption and scope of use for Java. You don't see development output for one, two or more years. Java is now the dominant technology, as I predicted. I first used it for remote, portable interfaces to wireless test equipment: the server end was Java but used JNI to interface with base station emulators, signal generators and such -- a lot of that still uses the old lab standard GPIB to communicate.
This time, the environment is the corporate network, corporate internets and the the Internet -- I don't use the term intranet: it's a marketing term we didn't need. |
