From what I could glean from your previous postings I don't have to explain the details to you so this should be simple. First and foremost, Java isn't just a language, there is also a virtual machine and an OS which is what Toshiba announced today. On top of all of that there are high-level components representing the common APIs found in Windows: ODBC and TAPI are two examples which map to JDBC and JTAPI, respectively. Java has what I call a "symmetry of scale" wherein you don't have to switch environments or languages to do higher-level software. This is because the OS and the machine are essentially crafted from the same syntax and the same components that you are using in your application.
Imagine Windows being written in C++ with native C++ classes used to interface and extent the operating system. That's sort of where the benefits of Java come from. There are higher-level languages for the purpose of scripting and clearly there will be purely interactive tools which require no programming, as we know it. Now, you can take a virtual machine specification and implement it on anything you like. A company called CheapBox (yes, that's correct) currently sells a Java server which runs 300 time faster than a Pentium using parallel Intel motherboards with anything from an 80386 on up. Java is very, very good at leveraging parallel processors because of the multithreaded design. Of couse it has built-in garbage collection, security features, et cetera.
Look, they ripped off everything that was good about C/C++ and the current features of modern operating systems and built-in distributed computing features. I am know Java expert either, but I listen to the experts in the Java Report like James Gosling and Dennis Ritchie, I really don't think there's any serious debate among the real experts about the future of Java. It's a done deal as far as I am concerned.
When Java software and components reach a critical mass there will be no reason for the average user to have Windows compatibility. It isn't a mystery why Microsoft changed its tune so suddently and with regard to Java, they see the writing on the wall. Microsoft will be one of the premier and best Java software providers and ActiveX will let them transition incrementally. ActiveX is also a proprietary trap that iis never going to be hardware independent. |
