Mozek,
Consider where Java is in its history as a commercial product. Just a few short years on the market and rapidly gaining mindshare as the platform for network computing. With a few kinks to resolve and control of the browser platform in hand (via the Java Plug-in), universal compatibility is only a matter of time - short time imo. The imminent bandwidth explosion (see Sprint's ION, and coming responses from AT&T and MCI) will expand the breadth, quality, and usefulness of applications available over the net and accelerate acceptance and progress of the Java standard, making local client apps and the operating systems they run on less of a "must have" for people who spend most of their computer time on the internet. Look for simple, sub $100 Java-based NCs to begin penetrating the consumer market as the big consumer electronics giants apply their manufacturing prowess, as telcos start to bundle these cheap devices with Internet access service, and as box makers like CPQ and HWP begin to realize that they can't compete against the much simpler, cheaper to manufacture, yet "useful enough" NC's on price. The future belongs to network computing, and Java - open, free, universal - will drive it. |
