MicroSoft does not have anything to offer in terms of
Sun's message of platform independence. MicroSoft offers
a cross platform solution that does not make economic nor
programming sense for developers.
Assuming that MicroSoft ports the COM model to multiple
OS's, what does that imply for developers? Since there is
no virtual machine to insulate the code from the underlying
chipset, the ActiveX developer will either have to settle
for the component running on one chipset, or go through
the effort of compiling, testing and maintaining all the
different chipsets that they want their component to run on.
If you don't believe me, try running those ActiveX components
on a PowerPC, or a Sparc, or MIPS, or Alpha without recompilation.
Even worst, ActiveX components often access OS specific functions
that may not exist, or be implemented different across OS and
chipsets. Those developers have their work cut out having to
learn all those multiple targets....
In contrast, a Java applet is insulated by the VM from the
underlying OS and chipset but for specific I/O functions.
Java applets, once written will work on any OS with a Java VM.
So, what has MicroSoft gained for humanity? Nothing less than
the opportunity to create lots of work for themselves. Their
so-called cross-platform solution means creating a order of
magnitude more work for programmers, more buggy code, more
incompatibility between versions and less productivity.
Ultimately, this makes economic sense for MicroSoft as it
encourages programmers to stick to the largest installed user
base, namely WinTel. |
