Jon,
You state:
> It's rediculous to say that consumers care what language their applications are written in.I also disagree that consumers are demanding thin client.
Of course it is rediculous to say consumers care what language or technology used to write a software application. All they want is to be able to run and to use that software anywhere anytime!
You see the world has changed. Software applications are not just meant to run under PCs (and especifically under Microsoft Windows). With internet and the new model of information processing you now have WebBrowsers, WebTV, NCs, NetPCs, and PCs. Information super highway is evolving quickly. Your participation through information super highway should no longer be limited to Windows. And Information viewing and processing should not only be restricted to software applications (GUI and non GUI) under Microsoft Windows. If I buy a Sony digital TV (or an NC, or a browser from Joe's store cross the street, or a hand held tiny computer that behaves like a laptop etc.) and want to be able to run a fancy visual animation software application that is connected to some database sitting somewhere on a server I do not have to go and buy Microsoft Windows (or its flavors) to be able to run that software on my TV (or other forms of tools designed for information viewing and processing)! That Sony TV is going to have a chip with Java VM (as defined by the industry - i.e. Sun's version of Java VM and not Microsoft's proprietary Java VM) and it will not be able to run software that is written to work only on Windows platforms! In addition my digital Sony TV will not be able to download a heavy duty software application! That application has to have been written and designed in such a manner that only a tiny thin portion of it is downloaded and the rest remains on a powerful high performance server.
Sure, the concept is still early to vision as being practical, but believe me the industry is (and will more as days go by) moving toward this thin model. Information and applications usage of it are no longer proprietary notions for one special class of people. My grandma should be able to have access to the same sort of information and applications that a few years ago for example a highly paid stock broker, or a movie producer, or a scientist or. had access. The market has changed from a developer driven environment to one that regular consumers would drive. The world has become and amazing place to live in. These are perhaps the best of times mankind has ever lived and some may call me an idealistic dreamer, but with the sort of technology companies such as Sun provide, this world is going to be a heck of nicer place to live in: universal equality without any chain to anyone or anything! I guess that slogan written on back of the T-shirts sold in the Java one conference a few months ago was meant something more than just being sarcastic with Microsoft and Bill Gates. It really meant a new philosophical way of thinking: In a world without fences, why do you need Gates?!
Regards,
Addi Jamshidi |
