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Java, ActiveX, and Open: Sal, I'm not trying to kill you, but there is a big, big difference between Java and ActiveX. Most all
Java applets will run on any Java-enabled browser. Given Netscapes's support, that means it will run on a lot of platforms.
It may run faster on Java chips/JavaOS, but it doesn't have to run fast to be useful; people still get
work done on PC's that run at less that 1% of the speed of a new PPro.
Microsoft may be making a show of porting the ActiveX framework to other platforms, but that is
a charade. ActiveX controls, the equivalent of Java applets, will
not run on the Mac, or Unix, or whatever, just because msft ported
ActiveX to these platforms. The controls themselves will have to be
ported to the other platforms, and I'll bet 1 share msft to 1 nscp
that almost all (say 95%) ActiveX controls will never be ported
to anything but Windows. Of course, people have tried building
Windows emulators, but the Windows API is 3000-odd calls, and msft does not even claim that it is "open". Of course, the wsj article Reg posted yesterday morning alluded to the new Microsoft definition of an "open" platform: something that runs Windows. By that definition, yes, ActiveX is open. Cheers, Dan. |
