Microsoft Java Rival 'Cool' Faces Hot Fight Inside Firm
By MARY JO FOLEY
ZD Network News
Whether Microsoft Corp.'s rival to Java ever makes it
off company whiteboards depends as much on internal
Microsoft politics as on legal and technological
concerns.
The company's would-be Java killer, code-named
"Cool," has factions within Microsoft battling over
whether or not to create an entirely new language, a new
variation on C++, or to stay the course and attempt to
ride out the company's legal battles over Java with Sun
Microsystems Inc.
Little is known about Cool's
timing or feature set. Microsoft
officials say that no one at
Microsoft has written a line of
code for the potential language.
But developers outside of the company insist that
members of Microsoft's tools group are actively
evangelizing Cool as an alternative to Sun's Java.
Will Microsoft Ice 'Cool'?
Indeed, advocates within Microsoft's Developer Tools
Division are the ones pushing the entirely new language
approach, say sources.
But other Microsoft developers and executives --
primarily those who have been with the company for a
number of years -- are advocating staying the course and
either betting on a COM+-enhanced version of Microsoft
C++ and/or Microsoft Visual J.
Sources say the leader of the latter, more conservative,
camp is none other than David Vaskevitch, vice
president and chief architect of Microsoft's Distributed
Applications Platform Division.
Mr. Vaskevitch, who reports directly to Microsoft
Senior Vice President Jim Allchin, currently drives
much of the data access, data architecture and component
services strategies for the company. Mr. Vaskevitch also
is rumored to be the lead candidate for the head of a new
developer group that Microsoft is considering forming
as part of an expected companywide reorganization in
the next couple of months.
Microsoft may form up to four new divisions --
Enterprise, Consumer, Knowledge Worker and
Developer -- as part of the reorganization, according to
industry reports.
And if Mr. Vaskevitch is appointed to head the
developer division, the Cool project could die an
untimely death, say sources close to the company.
"If Vaskevitch gets the job, Cool is dead," said an
official with one company developing for Windows,
who requested anonymity.
Mr. Vaskevitch and other Microsoft officials contacted
for comment didn't respond to questions about Cool by
press time.
J++ Still Kicking
Meanwhile, Microsoft insists it plans to continue work
on its Visual J++ Java product simultaneously with any
other programming language work in which it is
engaged.
Company officials deny talk that Microsoft intends to
halt work on J++, despite a number of rulings that
haven't favored Microsoft from the judge overseeing the
Sun vs. Microsoft Java case.
So far, Microsoft has fixed some of its products by
adding Java Native Interface support, but it has done
nothing to alter its J++ language, other than to add a
warning of possible noncompliance of the product and
applications developed with it.
Microsoft's Research Group also continues to work on a
number of Java-related projects. Among these is a
Microsoft-developed optimizing Java compiler and
run-time environment, code-named "Marmot."
Microsoft has built a Marmot prototype that is aimed at
improving the performance of Java when used in
developing large, object-oriented, threaded applications. |
