Mr. McPeely,
I hope you are a fully paid member of SI. I trust you can afford the dues. I would HATE to face this bunch ALONE, without YOU (and the ring).
Are ya sitting down? There's this guy who wrote something you probably won't like one bit. Let's get him. I don't know, let's make his life MISERABLE. Anyway, here's another one. What's that? You want the name and number of msft's pr agency?
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Future Think Run Amok
By Rich Levin
developer Quote of the Month:
"Applets must be downloaded within two minutes over a 28.8 modem line." - Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, espousing Sun's view of acceptable end-user performance for Java clients
Last month, I suffered three days at the hands of JavaOne where if the sales and marketing hyperbole didn't cause your head to explode, the incessant Microsoft bashing, future-think (read: FUD on steroids), and empty promises certainly would have.
Scores of independent software vendors were showcasing real-world Java tools and solutions on the show floor. But you wouldn't know it to attend any of the keynote sessions. At those, Sun executives issued a firestorm of new and updated specifications, APIs, and operating system products, in a misguided effort to build a new world order.
In their utopian (some would say monolithic) view, Java unifies the enterprise--from smart rings and smart cards to in-automobile terminals, telephones, voice mail systems, PDAs, desktop clients, servers, midrange systems, mainframes, and supercomputers. Microsoft is dead, dead, dead; PCs are reserved for the engineering elite; and McNealy is the country's $50 billion man.
"There's a whole class of applications you can't write in Windows," McNealy said. "You can't put Windows on your ring. We think [the new Java] APIs cover things quite nicely, from smart card to supercomputer. The whole concept of personal computing goes away here."
As does the concept of reality. There's a whole class of applications you can't write in Java, either. Like apps that print. Or apps that don't need a bloated 4-Mbyte to 12-Mbyte virtual machine. Or apps more attractive and interactive than an automated teller machine. Or apps that load in under two, five, or 10 minutes.
So personal computing goes away, and in its place is--what, impersonal computing? One small step for computing, one giant leap backwards for computingkind. Imagine developers heading home from JavaOne, wrestling with the new platform decision.
Fred: "Gee, which should we choose, Java smart-ring or printing?"
Dan: "I dunno. That's a tough one. You can't fit Windows on a ring. Imagine how big that ring would be."
Fred: "I know. Ring or printing? Ring or printing?"
Dan: "Why don't we flip a coin?"
Fred: "No. Don't you remember what happened the last time we did that? We ended up with Lotus Notes!"
Dan: "Hey, do they have a debugger for that ring?"
Fred: "No, but the draft spec of the Java Ring Debugger API will be out next year."
Dan: "Ring or printing ... ring or printing ... ah, let's go for the ring. It's the future of computing."
Fred: "Cool. Microsoft is an evil monopoly anyway. We need to start orienting our IT strategy around what's good for Sun, and bad for Microsoft. Who cares about our specific business problems and process requirements? The ring it is! Up with the future! I'll send a message to the team, letting them know we've reached a decision. Can I borrow your notebook PC? My Notes mail client just bombed ..."
Among the technologies trotted in to usher out personal computing (see story) were Java Transaction Service (JTS), Java Messaging Service (JMS), Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI), PersonalJava, EmbeddedJava, JavaTV, AutoJava (for automobile implementations), JavaPhone, JavaPC for DOS, JavaOS for PDAs, a JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) update, and the Enterprise JavaBeans spec. Those are just the major initiatives. There were other technology thrusts, APIs, and demos (such as JavaSpaces, an interesting distributed-processing system).
For any thinking IT developer, Sun's road map for Java is more than ambitious; it's clear and present evidence of future-think run amok. McNealy's legions are so wanting a Java-dominated world, so blinded by their sputtering hatred of Microsoft and all that is personal computing, that they've lost track of what enterprise developers get paid to do: Build real-world solutions for real-world businesses, to solve real-world problems.
Had anyone bothered to survey the grunts mulling about the perimeter of JavaOne, they would have discovered coders couldn't care less about embedded systems nirvana. In 1998, what enterprise Java developers want and need most are improved fundamentals that better align distributed computing to business requirements. That means only three things: faster server-side run-time performance, true cross-platform portability (as opposed to write once, test everywhere), and a stable Java Development Kit.
Most of the developers I interviewed at JavaOne--none of which were offered up by vendors--told me they wish Sun would leave the stainless-steel Java rings, Java answering machines, Java coffee machines, and Java smart-toilets on the drawing board or in the research lab. (Incidentally, the Java smart-ring network bombed, and the Java answering machine demo, which was supposed to be "as easy to use as opening a refrigerator door," bugged out and died.)
Of course, Sun's visionaries aren't alone in getting bogged down in future stink, to the detriment of their core technology offerings. At the WinHEC conference that same week, Microsoft chairman and CEO Bill Gates peeked into his crystal ball and assured the assembled throngs that speech will be the primary Windows user interface of the future (See story). Windows computers will also network everything in our home from PCs to the toaster, according to Gates' vision.
This from the company that's taken three years to deliver hardly more than a tailfin and exterior-trim update to Windows 95. Guess they weren't kidding when they said they promised to archetype Windows operating system updates around Detroit's concept of "model years." New grille and interior trim, and you've got yourself a brand spanking new Camaro.
Yes, Windows 98 delivers an integrated browser, USB support, and fixes 5,000 bugs, according to Microsoft. But you can be sure Win98 introduces 5,000 new bugs, and doesn't advance computing's fundamentals one iota--unless you consider exploding drop-down menus and smooth-scrolling tool tips bleeding-edge innovations.
Maybe it's time industry leaders take a page from the company that started this future stink ball rolling in the first place: Apple Computer. Apple is living proof you can put vision in a box, then coast along for years without delivering 99.99% of what's promised. At some point, though, the public wakes up, and the future stink engine runs out of gas.
Today, due largely to the one-time vision king himself, acting CEO Steve Jobs, Apple is focused on delivering business solutions its customers need. The company appears to be steadying its once rapidly sinking ship. Likewise, Sun Microsystems executives should stop talking about the future and start delivering what its customers need to build, maintain, and support robust distributed computing solutions today.
But don't expect that to happen anytime soon. Among many influencers at Sun, enterprise Java is merely a near-term focus. "We think server-side Java is where the money is in the short term," McNealy said. "We're driving Java down to the card, to the ring, to the car, to wearable computing."
Welcome IBM. Seriously. |
