Ok, Keith. SInce you bring it up, maybe you can enlighten me about that very question.
I've never actually understood the rationale for Java on the server. I thought that, apart from its advantages as a programming language, Java's main strength was as a compact and portable binary image for applications or modules that move around over a wire or through the air. I've always associated the eventual success of Java with the upswing in the availability of low-cost bandwidth. Performance in the thin client matters less than performance of the network and the server.
When I think of a server, I think mostly of the need to handle a huge and growing number of transactions (page hits, queries, downloads, whatever), and of a machine that is stressed to the max, where every spare cycle counts, a machine that may be running perhaps some of the same applications that run on the thin client, but mostly runs a small number of "big iron" databases, web servers, perl scripts, etc.
Assuming there are good C++ compilers for all servers, I have never figured out Java's value-added in this environment. Is it that the appliance becomes just a display and input device and *all* computing is done on the server?
What's the pitch?
Regards,
--QwikSand |
